m 



THE YODNGERS' 
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 




B R O N A U G H 



■M 




Class _l-^V^41_L 
Book J^UlY>— 
Copyright N"_il£4.^ 

COPYRIGHT DEBOStt. 



^! 




W. C. BRONAUGH. 



The Youngers' 
Fight for Freedom 



A SOUTHERN SOLDIER'S TWENTY YEARS' 
CAMPAIGN TO OPEN NORTHERN PRISON 
DOORS— WITH ANECDOTES OF WAR DAYS 



BY 

W. C BRONAUGH 

Of Company K, i6th Missouri Infantry, C. S. A. 



Who Spent the Period from 1882 to 1902 to Secure the 

Release of 

Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger 

FROM 

"^ The Minnesota State Penitentiary 



LAST RELICS OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 



PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR BY 

E. W. STEPHENS PUBLISHING COMPANY 

Cofum6ia, (JttiBBouri 

1906 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

OCT 20 !906 

r, Qpoyright Entry , 
CLASS /\ XXc, No. 
COPY B. ^' 






o^\ 



,^7 



Copyright, 1906, 
By W. C. BRONAUGH. 



A WORD OF PREFACE. 

THE war between the states, as all 
wars, left scars everywhere. These 
scars were deepest on the border 
where the conflict was sharpest 
and the demoralization following the battle 
strife most complete. From this borderland 
in western Missouri, went into outlawry a 
group of men whose exploits have become part 
of the criminal history of the west. In mitiga- 
tion of judgment, not in extenuation of their 
evil deeds, the times in which their early lives 
were cast must be remembered. Chief among 
this group were Coleman, James, and Robert 
Younger. This volume relates the story of 
these outlaws, not to gloss their crimes or to 
excuse their sins but to show that the way of 
the transgressor is ever a hard way. The vol- 
ume does more. It tells how a gallant Missou- 
rian, true to sacred ties of friendship, gave time 
and thought and means, long and cheerfully, 
to securing the release of the Youngers from 
prison. The volume is worth reading as a con- 
tribution by high authority to the history of 
times much misunderstood and much misre- 
presented. It is worth reading for the strik- 

[5] 



[6] 
xi Word of Preface, 

ing moral lesson it conveys. It is worth read- 
ing because it records what a friend may do — 
and should, if need be — for a friend. If the 
volume aids in setting history right, if by its 
teaching it turns from paths of evil to the 
highway that is safe, if it leads to truer, more 
unselfish friendship, it will serve its purpose 
well. For this purpose it carries its own com- 
mendation. 

WALTER WILLIAMS. 
Columbia, Missouri, Friday, July 13, 1906. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

A Word of Preface 5 

Introduction 9 

CHAPTER. 

1. A Preliminary Sketch 15 

2. A Confederate Picket 27 

3. A Wedding Trip Northward 38 

4. In Jackson County 49 

5. A Meeting at Jefferson City 53 

6. Governor Marshall's Defense 58 

7. A Second Defense 70 

8. A Visit and a Petition 81 

y. The John N. Edwards Petition 88 

10. The J^ irst Effort 91 

11. Northward Again 110 

12. Three 1\_lnds of People 119 

13. Merriam's Kefcsal 129 

14. In the Hospital at Stillwater 135 

15. The oMessengee of Death l40 

l(j. Hal IvEid's Iriblte 150 

17. A Change of Administration 100 

18. In the Presence of the Governor 171 

19. A Memorable Ieak 178 

20. The Board of Pardons 198 

21. My Letter to the Pioneer Press 209 

22. Newspaper Comments 220 

23. Another Failure 227 

24. Favorable Action at Last 238 

25. The Kelease 240 

26. The Parole Bill 257 

27. After Stillwater 202 

28. Magnitude of the Task 275 

29. A Romance Prior to Northfield 285 

30. Love and Death 291 

31. Cole Younger Returns Home 297 

32. Cole Younger as a Correspondent 300 

33. ]\Iajor John N. Edw^ards, Author of the 

Famous Y^ounger Petition 332 

34. W^ARDEN Wolfer's Work 337 

35. Capt. Reagan and his Tribute 350 

Anecdotes of War Days 301 



[7] 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE. 

W. C. Bronaugh Frontispiece 

Cole Younger 13 

James Younger 23 

Robert Younger 31 

Col. H. W. Younger 41 

Mrs. H. W. Younger 55 

Dr. L. W. Twyman 65 

Mrs. Fannie Twyman 71 

Frank James 83 

Bank at Northfield 93 

W. W. :Murphy 103 

Ira Barton 113 

Faribault Jail 123 

Minnesota State Prison 133 

Maj. John N. Edwards 143 

William R. Marshall 153 

Thos. T. Crittenden 163 

Col. S. C. Reagan 173 

Col. E. F. Rogers 183 

William Warner 193 

James M. Seibert 203 

Dr. J. W. McClure 213 

Rev. Thos. M. Cobb 223 

R. A. Mott 233 

John L. Bittinger 243 

William J. Stone 253 

James H. Campbell 263 

G. G. Vest 273 

John F. Philips 283 

LoN V. Stephens 293 

L. B. Valliant 303 

Stephen B. Elkins 313 

E. W. Stephens 323 

G. D. Burgess 333 

Gen. .Jo Shelby 343 

Geo. p. Wilson 351 

C. P. Deming 359 

Ben F. Nelson 367 

Minnesota State House 375 

The Grip in Which Documents were Carried to 

Minnesota 383 

Home of W. C. Bronaugh 395 



[8] 



INTRODUCTION. 

IN presenting this volume to the public I 
am not unmindful of the fact that it has 
been preceded by many cheap books and 
pamphlets dealing with the sensational 
side of the careers of the Younger brothers. 
They have been prepared mostly by irrespon- 
sible persons, who have drawn heavily upon 
their fevered imaginations and made either he- 
roes or demons out of these unfortunate men. 
Cole Younger, in one of his letters to me, while 
he was yet serving sentence at Stillwater, said 
that at no time had he ever given anyone au- 
thority to write a book concerning the adven- 
tures of himself or his brothers. 

This volume has been written and compiled 
along wholly different lines from the startling 
fiction evolved from the flighty brain of dime- 
novel authors. While an attempt has been 
made to enliven its pages at proper intervals 
with entertaining incidents and episodes, my 
principal aim has been to give a history of my 
twenty years' work toward the liberation of 
the Youngers. I believe I am justified in the 
assertion — though it may violate good taste 
and modesty — that there is no other instance 

[9] 



[10] 
Inti'oduction. 

in American history where a similar effort has 
been made. That is one excuse for my putting 
forth this book. 

Humanly speaking, twenty years is a long 
time. Taken out of the ordinary life, there is 
but scant space left. Into this period was 
crowded such continuous toil, repeated disap- 
pointment, and wearying suspense as would 
attach to few other undertakings. At first it 
seemed an absolutely forlorn enterprise. Some 
of my best friends ridiculed the idea of any 
Missourian, and especially an ex-Confederate 
soldier, succeeding in the liberation of Cole- 
man, James, and Robert Younger. Had they 
not escaped capital punishment by a mere 
technicality of the law, and had not the very 
lightest sentence possible been imposed upon 
them? Therefore, it seemed like a bold assur- 
ance that one of their own former fellow-citi- 
zens should arrogate to himself the duty of in- 
terfering with the righteous mandate of a 
Minnesota judge and jury. 

The purpose of this volume is neither to vin- 
dicate nor condemn the Youngers. Two of 
them are beyond the influence of praise or cen- 
sure. The strange and thrilling story of their 
lives has passed into history, but what I wish 



[11] 

Introduction, 

to emphasize is the fact that the liberation of 
the Youngers was due primarily to the sym- 
pathetic generosity of the people of Minnesota. 
This generosity possibly has no parallel in the 
history of any other community, and I desire 
here and now to acknowledge my profound rec- 
ognition of this fact. 

It would give me exceeding pleasure to print 
on these pages the name of every man and 
women who aided me in my efforts to ob- 
tain the release of the Youngers. Many of 
these persons displayed lofty courage in the 
firm and noble stand they took, simply that 
mercy might be shown and justice done. They 
had nothing material to gain, whatever the is- 
sue, but rather much to lose. They had to face 
frowning friends and endure severe criticism. 
Men in public life who hoped for still further 
honors were willing to sacrifice these simply 
for the sake of three guilty, but unfortunate, 
men at Stillwater. All were noble and true 
and not a few of them have passed to their 
ultimate reward in a better land. 

I wish also to record my gratitude to those 
friends outside of Minnesota who so cheerfully 
upheld me in my mission of mercy. They re- 
sponded nobly to my requests for words of rec- 



[12] 
Introduction. 

ommendation to the powers in the far north, 
and many of them afforded financial aid for 
legitimate purposes. 

It would be difficult for anyone not seeing 
it to appreciate the great mass of correspon- 
dence involved in this undertaking and cover- 
ing a period of nearly twenty years. This cor- 
respondence has served me not only in the 
preparation of this book, but it vindicates my 
claim to being the originator and chief agita- 
tor of the pardon. Certain other persons have 
already arrogated to themselves all the credit 
for the movement leading to the release of the 
Youngers, but there is enough correspondence, 
shown in this book alone, to place the credit 
where it properly belongs, 

W. C. BRONAUGH. 

Clinton, Missouri, July 10, 1906. 




COLEMAN^ YOUNGER. 



CHAPTER 1. 
A Preliminary Sketch. 

HAD there been no Civil War in this 
country from 1861 to 1865, there 
would likely have been no story, 
good or bad, to write of Coleman, 
James, and Robert Younger, or of Jesse W. 
James and Frank James. There would have 
been no raid and murder at Northfield, Min- 
nesota; there would have been no assassina- 
tion in a certain little frame building in St. 
Joseph, Missouri ; three brothers, of good fam- 
ily in this state, would not have been confined 
in the historic prison at Stillwater — one of 
them to die within the dank shadows of its 
walls — the other tw^o to spend a quarter of 
a century there, shut closely in from fair skies 
and green fields until the fine flower of their 
fresh young manhood had w^ithered and faded 
away and they had become prematurely old 
men — only one of them to return alive to the 
scenes of his youth and the homes and haunts 
of his kindred. 

[15] 



[16] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

Volumes have been written by a hundred 
different authors on the border troubles be- 
tween Kansas and Missouri, that preceded the 
opening of the great drama, that covered a 
continent and engaged the attention of the 
whole civilized world for four of the bloodiest 
years in modern history. It was a fit curtain- 
raiser for a stupendous tragedy that made a 
crimson gulf between states, counties, com- 
munities, kindred and neighbors. 

The struggle began in the Territory of Kan- 
sas in the middle '50's, primarily and practi- 
cally over the vexed question of slavery. 
Should Kansas be admitted with or without 
this institution was debated in Congress, on 
the stump and in the pulpit by the oratorical 
and forensic giants of the land. It involved 
the neighboring state of Missouri, between 
which and the new territory flowed only a nar- 
row and insignificant stream. 

The East, and especially New England, sent 
thousands of colonists into this new western 
land of promise to establish a free state. Among 
these colonists were many daring spirits and 
notorious adventurers, who were determined 
to plant there the anti-slavery practices and 
principles that were the forerunners of the 



[17] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

great Civil War. Pre-eminent for audacity 
and as abolitionists were John Brown and Jim 
Lane — one of whom was to die on the scaf- 
fold in Virginia, and the other to fill the dis- 
honored grave of a suicide. 

Missouri was a slave state and also had her 
share of reckless and domineering leaders, who 
saw with alarm and frowning faces the anti- 
slavery invasion of a neighboring territory. 
Feuds and reprisals arose between the two sec- 
tions. The little Kansas river, hardly wide 
enough or deep enough to float a barge, was 
crossed and recrossed by the opposing parties, 
armed to the teeth. John Brown came over 
into Missouri and ran off slaves from their 
owners, also committing other depredations. 
Dare-devil Missourians went over into Kan- 
sas, meddled with the local elections, and did 
other wrongs. Murders were numerous. Bor- 
der warfare — savage and stern and relentless 
— reigned night and day. Cass, St. Clair, 
Jackson and Bates counties, in Missouri, were 
sufferers at the hands of the hated old John 
BroAvn and the despised Gen. Jim Lane. The 
latter, in command of a force of Jayhawkers 
and Redlegs, in the fall of 1861, made a sud- 
den descent on Osceola, thebeautiful and quiet 



[18] 
The Younger s Fight for Freedom. 

little county-seat of St. Clair county, looted 
stores, insulted citizens, and burned the town 
to the ground. In the summer of 18G3, in re- 
taliation for this outrage, the bloodthirsty 
Ouantrell, with a large band of Confederate 
rough-riders, perpetrated the massacre at 
Lawrence, Kansas. 

In Cass and Jackson counties the parents 
and other kindred of the Younger boys resid- 
ed. The whole atmosphere was surcharged 
with anger and hatred and blood, and in this 
atmosphere the Youngers were growing up, 
their youth keenly susceptible to the prevail- 
ing influences of the time. 

The Civil War came on, and found H. 
W. Younger, a resident of Cass county, Mis- 
souri, a pronounced southern man and slave- 
holder, although he opposed secession and still 
stood firmly for the Union. He had a United 
States government mail contract and was in 
Washington City, looking after his interests 
in that particular, when Kansas Redlegs made 
a raid on his livery-stable and stage line at 
Harrisonville, looting and destroying much of 
his property. 

Not long after this Mr. Younger, while re- 
turning home, on horseback, from a business 



[19] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

trip to Kansas City, was waylaid, murdered, 
and robbed. A Federal captain named Wal- 
ley and his men were charged with the bloody 
crime. A young woman cousin of the Young- 
er boys, while held by the Federals as a pris- 
oner in a dilapidated building in Kansas City, 
was killed by the house falling in, it being al- 
leged that the walls had been secretly under- 
mined by the Federals for the purpose of caus- 
ing the death of the inmates. 

Added to the above outrages, the mother of 
the Younger boys was cruelly treated by the 
local militia, finally being driven from her 
home. All these things made Cole Younger, 
the oldest one of the afterwards noted broth- 
ers, desperate, and it was but natural that he 
should seek service in the army. He joined 
Quantrell's band. However, it will be plain- 
ly shown in the course of this narrative that 
Cole Younger always fought in open warfare, 
though at times he may have been compelled 
to ride under the black flag. 

At the close of the war Coleman and James 
Younger — the latter of Avhom had been in 
the Confederate army but a year or so — were 
outlawed and denied the privilege of living at 
home. A price was set upon their heads and 



[20] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

they became wanderers, desperadoes, and fin- 
ally train and bank robbers, though many 
crimes were placed to their credit of which 
there is abundant proof they were never guilty. 

At the session of the Missouri legislature in 
1875, a bill was introduced in the house by the 
late Gen. Jeff Jones, of Callaway county, of- 
fering amnesty to the Younger and James 
Brothers, designating them by name, from all 
their acts during the war and pledging them 
an impartial trial on any charges against them 
arising since the close of the rebellion. 

The bill was approved by Attorney-General 
John A. Hockaday, was favorably reported by 
a majority of the committee on criminal juris- 
prudence, but an unhappy incident occurred 
while the measure was pending with fair pros- 
pects of success, and it was defeated by a sin- 
gle vote. 

The bill in the main, read as follows : 

''Whereas, by the fourth section of the elev- 
enth article of the Constitution of Missouri, 
all persons in the military service of the United 
States, or who acted under the authority there- 
of in this state, are relieved from all civil lia- 
bility and all criminal punishment for all acts 



[21] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

done by them since the first day of January, 
A D. 1861; and, 

"Whereas, by the twelfth section of said 
eleventh article of said Constitution, provision 
is made by which, under certain circumstances, 
may be seized, transported to, indicted, tried 
and punished in distant counties, any Confed- 
erate under ban of despotic displeasure, there- 
by contravening the Constitution of the Unit- 
ed States, and every principle of enlightened 
humanity ; and, 

''Whereas, such discrimination evinces a 
want of manly generosity and statesmanship 
on the part of the party imposing, and of cour- 
age and manhood on the part of the party sub- 
mitting tamely thereto ; and, 

"Whereas, under the outlawry pronounced 
against Jesse W. James, Frank James, Cole- 
man Younger, James Younger and others, who 
gallantly periled their lives and their all in de- 
fense of their principles, they are of necessity 
made desperate, driven as they are from the 
fields of honest industry, from their friends, 
their families, their homes and their country, 
they can know no law but the law of self-pres- 
ervation, nor can have no respect for and feel 
no allegiance to a government which forces 



[22] 
The Youngcrs' Fight for Freedom. 

them to the very act it professes to depre- 
cate, and then offers a bounty for their appre- 
hension, and arms foreign mercenaries with 
power to capture and kill them ; and, 

"Whereas, believing these men too brave to 
be mean, too generous to be revengeful, and 
too gallant and honorable to betray a friend 
or break a promise ; and believing further that 
most, if not all, of the offenses with which they 
are charged, have been committed by others, 
and perhaps by those pretending to hunt them, 
or by their confederates ; that their names are 
and have been used to divert suspicion from 
and thereby relieve the actual perpetrators ; 
that the return of these men to their homes 
and friends would have the effect of greatly 
lessening crime in our state by turning public 
attention to the real criminals, and that coni- 
m.on justice, sound policy and true statesman- 
ship alike demand that amnesty should be ex- 
tended to all alike, of both parties, for all acts 
done or charged to have been done during the 
war; therefore, be it 

"Resolved, by the House of Representatives, 
the senate concurring therein, that the Gov- 
ernor of the state be, and he is hereby request- 
ed to issue a proclamation notifying the said 




JAMES YOUNGER. 



[25] 
The Youngers Fight for Freedom. 

Jesse W. James, Frank James, Coleman 
Younger, James Younger, and others that full 
and complete amnesty and pardon will be 
granted them for all acts charged or commit- 
ted by them during the late Civil War, and in- 
viting them peacefully to return to their re- 
spective homes in this state, and there quietly 
to remain, submitting themselves to such pro- 
ceedings as may be instituted against them by 
the courts for all ofifenses charged to have been 
committed since said war, promising and guar- 
anteeing to them full protection and a fair 
trial therein, and that full protection shall be 
given them from the time of their entrance 
into the state and his notice thereof under said 
proclamation and invitation." 

The fatal and final feat of the three Young- 
er brothers — Bob in the meantime having be- 
come a member of the gang — was the mem- 
orable and murderous raid on the bank at 
Northfield, Minnesota, the following year. 
Never was a more foolhardy or disastrous ex- 
pedition undertaken by any body of men. The 
party for this trip was organized in 1876, and 
was composed of Coleman, James, and Robert 
Younger, Clell Miller, Bill Chadwell, Charlie 
Pitts, and two others known as Woods and 
Howard. 



[26] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

Reaching Minnesota, the i^^ang' spent sever- 
al days in Minneapolis and St. Paul prior to 
their descent on Northfield, which took place 
on the morning of September 7, 1876, after 
the town and surrounding neighborhood had 
been thoroughly reconnoitered. 

The death of Cashier Haywood, in the bank, 
the battle with the citizens in the streets, in 
which several of the invaders were either kill- 
ed or wounded, the flight, pursuit, and capture 
are an old story that call but for a brief re- 
hearsal here. 

Gov. John S. Pillsbury offered a reward of 
one thousand dollars for the capture of the six 
men who had escaped, and this he afterwards 
changed to one thousand dollars for each of 
them, dead or alive. The Northfield bank of- 
fered seven hundred dollars and the Winona 
& St. Peter Railway Company offered five hun- 
dred dollars. 

The whole country was aroused and the 
chase was immediately taken up. After two 
weeks had passed the fugitives were brought 
to bay, September 21, eight miles southwest 
of Madelia, Minnesota. Woods and Howard 
escaped, Pitts was killed, and the three Young- 
ers, shot and mangled and utterly undone, sur- 
rendered themselves. 



CHAPTER 2. 
A Confederate Picket. 

IN the beautiful and quaint little town of 
Buffalo, situated on the banks of the ro- 
mantic Kanawha river, in what is now 
West Virginia, I first beheld the light of day. 
J\Iy parents were native Virginians and of good 
old Revolutionary stock. My father, Christo- 
pher Columbus Bronaugh was a native of 
Stafford county, and my mother, whose maid- 
en name was Anne E. Waters, was born near 
Warrenton. Both localities are among the 
most historic and interesting in the South and 
there, during the four years of fratricidal 
strife, were heard the tread of hostile armies 
and the roar of battle. 

After some years spent in merchandizing at 
Buffalo, whither he had gone from Stafford 
county, my father and family removed to Hen- 
ry county, Missouri, in the early '40's and set- 
tled on a farm some eight miles northeast of 
Clinton. The frame dwelling which he erect- 
ed there was at that time the most pretentious 

[27] 



[28] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

buildino^ in all this part of the country and was 
known to neighbors and travelers, passing to 
and fro, as the ''big white house." The view 
from it at that early day swept over many 
miles in all directions, but there was little else 
to be seen save the tall prairie grass and great 
stretches of timber along the water-courses. 
Habitations were few and far between. This 
old house, still in good state of preservation, 
sheltered many a weary pilgrim and under its 
roof was often dispensed to friends the old 
Virginia hospitality in which both my father 
and mother were skilled. 

The soil was virgin then, the woodlands 
were dense and dark, and the prairie grass 
reached to a man's shoulders, wild game was 
plentiful and the silvery streams abounded in 
fish. Here my father was engaged in agricul- 
ture and stock-raising, when the black cloud 
of the coming conflict between the states loom- 
ed ominously upon the horizon. Naturally 
enough, being of old Virginia birth and lin- 
eage, he and his three brothers — Thomas Jef- 
ferson, Addison, and William Y. Bronaugh, 
who had preceded him to Missouri — and their 
sons were ardent in their southern sympathy, 
and the fact that there were twenty-one Bron- 



[29] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

aughs, from various states, in the Confederate 
army, eight of whom enlisted in Henry county, 
is sufficient evidence of their devotion to a 
cause which they loved and believed to be 
right. 

In August, 1861, I enrolled myself as a mem- 
ber of Company C, which was a part of the 
regiment commanded by Col. Thomas Owens, 
of Clinton, Missouri. Our brigade command- 
er was Gen. James S. Rains. I served with 
this command until after the battle of Pea 
Ridge, Ark., in 1862, when we were ordered 
east of the Mississippi river. After campaign- 
ing for some time around Corinth, we were as- 
signed to the Trans-Mississippi department. 

My first meeting with Col. Vard Cockrell, 
a brother of United States Senator F. M. 
Cockrell, took place about this time near Van 
Buren, Arkansas, where he" organized a force 
of eight hundred men and on August 1, 1862, 
started for Missouri on what was known as 
the Lone Jack expedition. Thursday night, 
August 14, we encamped near Dayton, Cass 
county, Missouri, and on the following day 
passed through Lone Jack, in Jackson county, 
and encamped seven miles west of that little 
village. That night our command moved back 



[30] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

toward Lone Jack, where a large force of Fed- 
erals under Major Emory S. Foster had arriv- 
ed and encamped in the town. 

The details of this sanguinary engagement — 
one of the bloodiest of the war, considering the 
number of combatants engaged — are too 
familiar to readers of history for reiteration 
here. The ball opened at daylight and the des- 
perate struggle continued until nearly noon, 
without a moment's cessation. The hollows 
and hills and hedges were strewn with the dead 
and wounded of either side. Federals and Con- 
federates each losing at least half their num- 
bers. 

At nightfall Saturday, August 16, after the 
battle. Colonel Cockrell moved his shattered 
but victorious little command back to a camp- 
ing-ground west of Lone Jack. Early the fol- 
lowing morning a comrade and I, beginning 
to feel the pangs of hunger, determined to ride 
out a few miles and get breakfast. On return- 
ing, having been absent three or four hours, 
we found the camp deserted and learned that 
Colonel 'Cockrell had removed his forces to- 
V. ard Lone Jack again on a forced march, hav- 
ing been gone about two hours. 

We immediately set out in a swift gallop to 




ROBERT YOUNGER. 



[33] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

overtake them. Arriving within a mile of the 
battlefield of the previous day, we suddenly 
came upon a group of Confederate pickets, at 
the left of the road we were traveling. One 
of these pickets hailed us and we halted. He 
inquired if we belonged to Cockrell's com- 
mand, and being answered in the afifirmative, 
he said: 

"Colonel Cockrell is on the east side of the 
town, on the Chapel Hill road, in full retreat, 
and General Blunt is in Lone Jack with 1500 
Jayhawkers and Redlegs from Kansas." 

This information was both surprising and 
alarming to us. 

We tarried and talked there nearly an hour 
with this picket. He was an exceedingly hand- 
some young fellow, stalwart, alert, and intel- 
ligent and every inch a soldier. He wore a 
black slouch hat, dove-colored trousers and a 
colored shirt. Around his waist, suspended 
from a glossy black belt, was a brace of fine 
revolvers. He had tied his horse a little way 
off, and was afoot while conversing with us. 

This youthful Confederate picket, by his 
splendid military bearing, made a peculiar and 
powerful impression on me, and also won the 
gratitude of both my comrade and myself, for. 

3 



[34] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

undoubtedly, had he not given us timely warn- 
ing, we should have ridden into Blunt's troops 
and been captured or killed. Little did I sus- 
pect, at that time, the identity of the young 
soldier whom we had unexpectedly encount- 
ered by the roadside, and much less did I 
dream of the events, personal to ourselves, that 
awaited us in future years, in a distant state, 
long after the clouds of war had cleared away. 
But from the hour I met him, I had never 
forgotten his face. It was indelibly stamped 
on my memory and fairly haunted me for 
weeks and months thereafter. 

This alert and entertaining young picket 
was no other than the now famous Cole 
Younger, whose name for daring and endur- 
ance is known in every state and territory of 
this union. Then but a beardless boy, he had 
played a prominent part in the sanguinary bat- 
tle of the day before and had performed pro- 
digious valor and heroism. 

The late Major Emory S. Foster, U. S. A., 
in recounting incidents that took place on the 
bloody field of Lone Jack, said that "during 
the progress of the fight my attention was call- 
ed to a young Confederate riding up and down 
in front of their lines distributing ammunition 



[35] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

to the men. He rode along under the most 
g-alling fire. He went the entire length of 
their long line and when he reached the end 
at last our boys recognized his gallantry in 
ringing cheers. 

"My brother and I were severely wounded 
in the fight and we were taken prisoners. Af- 
ter we were put in a cabin a Confederate guer- 
illa came in and threatened to shoot us both. 
As he stood over us, pistol in hand, the young 
man we had seen distributing ammunition to 
the Confederate line rushed in, seized the guer- 
illa and shoved him out of the room. Other 
men entered and addressed the newcomer as 
Cole Younger. My brother had $300; I had 
$700. This money and our revolvers Cole 
took from us at our request and delivered safe- 
ly to my mother at Warrensburg, Missouri." 

In one of his letters to me, during his im- 
prisonment at Stillwater, Cole Younger made 
reference to the battle of Lone Jack as follows : 

"In the last Weekly Republic I saw an ac- 
count of the battle by Major Foster, who com- 
manded the Federal forces. It is very good, 
though there are some mistakes. He over- 
rates the number of Confederates, but. his ac- 
count of the fighting is correct. However, he 



[36] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

mentions parties on the Confederate side that 
were not in the fight at all. 

"Without knowing it he gives me a compli- 
ment. Speaking of our side getting out of am- 
munition, he says that one of the Confeder- 
ates rode along the whole line within thirty 
yards of his command, distributing ammuni- 
tion to the Rebels, while the Federals were all 
shooting at him, and he got off unhurt. 

"Major Foster says *he (meaning me) was 
a good man, but I don't suppose he knew who 
he was calling a good man. 

"The Yankees gave me a rousing cheer, but 
I thought they were doing it because they sup- 
posed they had killed me as I jumped my 
horse over a fence. 

"When I got around behind a log house, I 
told them to halloo and be d — d, they hadn't 
killed anybody. 

"I was the only person on the battlefield on 
horseback during the fight, except Cockrell, 
and he stopped under a hill and hitched his 
horse. 

"I ran the g-auntlet twice, when Col. Upton 
Hays told me positively that if I attempted it 
again he would shoot my horse himself. He 
then sent me to look for Coffee's com- 



[37] 
The Youngcrs' Fight for Freedom, 

mand and take them around to the rear of the 
Federals. When they saw us flanking them 
they broke ranks and started on the retreat. 
Coffee and his men were dismounted. 

•'That man you saw in Howard county, with 
no arms, and myself were on horseback pilot- 
ing Coffee and his men and when the Federals 
started to run we took after them." 

Bidding our newly made friend farewell, my 
companion and I rode westward to Blue 
Springs and joined Col. Upton Hays' com- 
mand. I remained in active service thereafter 
and participated in the battles of Prairie 
Grove, Helena, Pleasant Hill, Jenkins' Ferry, 
and many minor engagements in the Trans- 
Mississippi department, finally surrendering in 
June, 1865, at Shreveport, Louisiana. Return- 
ing to my home in Henry county, which I 
had left in 1861, I engaged in farming and 
stock-raising. 



CHAPTER 3. 
A Wedding Trip Northward. 

EVER since the Centennial year, 1876, 
when the three Younger brothers, 
shattered by bullets after the 
Northfield tragedy, had been land- 
ed in the Stillwater penitentiary under life sen- 
tences, my sympathy for them had been deep 
and keen. Being anxious to see them, if possi- 
ble, and to give them what aid I could, I pro- 
posed to my bride that we should make a wed- 
ding trip to Minnesota, meaning to add to our 
matrimonial felicity a mission of mercy to 
these unfortunate men. 

Upon our arrival at St. Paul we registered 
at the Merchants' Hotel and after a brief stay 
there I went to Stillwater, twenty-five miles 
distant. Before leaving the hotel, I stated to 
Capt. Allen, proprietor, my desire and inten- 
tion to call on the Youngers, if such arrange- 
ment could be made, and requested him to 
give me a letter of introduction to the warden. 
Capt. Allen hesitated. He remarked that Mis- 
CBS] 



[39] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

sourians were regarded with much suspicion 
in Minnesota. Though the Youngers had al- 
ready served eight years in prison, the mem- 
ory of their crime had not in the least faded 
from the minds of the people of Minnesota 
and the citizens of that state not unnaturally 
still cherished resentment toward Missourians, 
especially those who dared to come so far 
north and openly express or manifest any feel- 
ing of friendship. 

After some further persuasion, however, 
Capt. Allen wrote out and handed me a court- 
eous note of introduction. 

Reaching Stillwater, I immediately went 
to Warden A. J. Reed's office. This gentle- 
man was sitting at his desk when I entered 
and presented the little document which would 
likely lead the way to my seeing the boys be- 
hind the bars. 

Mr. Reed, with whom I was rather favora- 
bly impressed at first glance, took the note, op- 
ened it and read and reread it, showing consid- 
erable surprise and unusual interest. 

When he had finished his perusal, so intent- 
ly and scrupulously made, he looked up at me 
and remarked : 

"My friend, Capt. Allen, states in this note 
to me that you are from Missouri." 



[40] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

The peculiar tone of his voice and the pen- 
etrating glance of his eyes w ere not at all re- 
assuring and I instantly felt a blush of addi- 
tional embarrassment mount to my cheeks. I 
was not ashamed of grand old Missouri. Far 
from it. Neither did I apprehend personal in- 
sult or bodily harm of any kind. But there I 
stood, a bashful bridegroom, fresh from the 
matrimonial altar, very far away from home 
and friends. 

However, I put on a brave, though not ar- 
rogant front, and replied : 

•'Yes, I am from Missouri and am proud of 
it." 

*'Well," said the warden, rather stiffly and 
wath sharp emphasis, ''we look on all Missou- 
rians here wdth a good deal of suspicion." 

To deny that this remark somewhat nettled 
me would not exactly be confining myself to 
the truth. It included not only myself, but 
also a certain little woman who was awaitmg 
my return to St. Paul. 

But T kept my composure and concealed my 
feelings as best I could. I well knew it would 
be indiscreet to show any signs of irritability 
or resentment, as that might block right at 
the threshold my cherished object. I was 





COL. H. \V. YOUNGER, 
Father of the Younger Brothers. 



[43] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

painfully aware that I was in the enemy's 
country and must use all the cool judgment 
and nice diplomacy at my command. 

After making a polite but firm defense of 
Missourians in general, and setting forth their 
feelings in reference to the wrong the Young- 
ers had inflicted on the good people of Minne- 
sota, to which Mr. Reed gave respectful atten- 
tion, he reluctantly called in Deputy-Warden 
Hall, saying: 

''This gentleman," pointing to me, "wants 
to see the Youngers and says he is from Mis- 
souri. You have him bare his arm to the elbow 
and you closely listen to all he says when in 
the presence of the prisoners." 

With these instructions we entered the cor- 
ridor of the grim prison. The heavy keys, 
huge locks, massive bars and the forbidding 
stone walls and iron ceilings looked as though 
they were built to withstand the crack of 
doom itself. It would be hard to describe my 
feelings as I passed along the corridor, my 
shirt sleeve rolled up to my elbow. 

Across the door of each dark cell was paint- 
ed the name of the occupant. We first came 
to the cell occupied by Jim Younger. He 
stood peering out from the cold bars, through 



[44] 
The Younger s Fight for Freedom. 

which he thrust his hand to give me greeting. 
From the loss of his upper jaw, caused by a 
heavy musket ball crashing through it in the 
final fight where he and his two brothers were 
captured, his speech was greatly impaired and 
it was not only with difificulty that he spoke, 
but it was often hard to understand what he 
said. 

Leaving this cell and passing a few others, 
we came to Cole Younger, his name promi- 
nently painted, as the others were, on the 
door. 

Mr. Hall spoke to Cole and he stepped to 
the door. The deputy warden said tO' him : 

"Here's a man from Missouri who wishes to 
see you." 

With my right arm still bared, I introduced 
myself to the noted prisoner and we shook 
hands through the bars. At my very first 
glance at him I recognized him as the same 
person who, under such strange circumstances 
had hailed me on a public road near Lone Jack, 
Missouri, on that hot Sunday morning in 1862, 
and kindly kept me from riding into the ranks 
of the Kansas Redlegs. The Confederate 
picket, then but a youth, and the man who 
now stood behind the bars, with his face fur- 



[45] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

rowed with care and his body full of wounds, 
were one and the same — the redoubtable Cole 
Younger. 

I do not know what feelings he experienced 
at that singular moment. Cole Younger was 
always impassive and given to little outward 
demonstration, but for myself memory, retro- 
spection and emotion instantly asserted them- 
selves. I thought of a thousand events that 
had been crowded into the career of this man 
between that bloody summer of '62, when we 
had first met, wearing the same uniform and 
fighting under the same flag, but unknown to 
each other; and the present hour, twenty-two 
years later, T enjoyed the priceless freedom 
of an American citizen, while he, wearing the 
garb of a convict, was shut in, nevermore, as 
far as then could humanly be seen, to enjoy 
a moment's liberty. The sympathy I had 
hitherto had for these boys was then and there 
quickened and deepened. I determined on the 
spot henceforth to devote my service and ef- 
forts to secure their pardon and release. 

In the course of our conversation Cole 
Younger asked if I would be his friend and 
assist him and his brothers in obtaining a par- 
don. Having already made up my mind to do 
this, I there personally made the promise to 



[46] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

Cole. I accompanied this pledge with a bit of 
advice : First, that the boys should live ; and 
second, that they should obey to the very let- 
ter the prison rules at all times and under all 
circumstances. Said I : 

''If these walls some day should tumble 
about your heads and the officials and guards 
therein should perish, you must remain in the 
ruins and wait for orders." 

Just then the prison whistle blew for the 
noon hour and turning, I saw a man approach 
the door of Jim Younger's cell and hand to 
him a little galvanized iron bucket containing 
liquid food. From the day Jim was shot in 
the jaw at the time he was captured, no solid 
food had ever passed his lips. 

Upon inquiry I learned that Bob Younger 
was employed in the workshop of the peni- 
tentiary and thither Deputy Warden Hall ac- 
companied me. I was instantl}^ struck with 
the fine bearing of the beardless boy. He had 
a noble face and his whole demeanor and ap- 
pearance denoted the tenderness of youth. His 
memory and intelligence would have impress- 
ed any person, though meeting him but for a 
few moments. Bob's letters to me written at 
rather long intervals up to the time of his 
death in 1S89, unmistakably indicated that he 



[47] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

was studious and was constantly improving 
intellectually. 

Returning to St. Paul, where my wife had 
remained during my brief absence, I began 
a kind of canvass of citizens there, my object 
being to ascertain the drift of sentiment in re- 
gard to the Youngers. On the streets, in the 
hotel lobbies, and in their homes and places of 
business I conversed freely and frankly on this 
subject with scores of men in various avoca- 
tions of life. Without a single exception I 
met with discouragement. There was not one 
gleam of hope. Not a favorable word was ut- 
tered by these people, many of whom were 
prominent in society, church, politics and 
finance. They simply ridiculed the idea I ad- 
vanced and not a few of them said to me 
again and again : 

"My dear sir, your mission to Minnesota is 
a very unpopular one." Others went so far 
as to tell me that it was not only an unpopular 
one, but also very unsafe for me, and advised 
me to take the first train for home. 

I must admit that this attitude assumed 
toward me by these people was anything but 
pleasant. And yet, in looking back upon it im- 
partially from this distance, it can not be 
doubted but that the citizens of Minnesota 



[48] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

had siifificient reason to harbor this resent- 
ment. They were clearly conscientious in the 
matter and perhaps were less revengefnl to- 
ward the Yonngers in particular and Missou- 
rians in e^eneral than most communities 
would have been under similar circumstances. 
Their beloved state had been invaded and 
some of their people had been shot down by 
men who still claimed Missouri as their home. 
Young- Heywood, the slain cashier, had al- 
ways been highly esteemed by a large circle 
of acquaintances, and the fact that he was 
wantonly murdered while at his post of duty, 
intensified the feeling of unforgiving hatred. 
Then, too, the raid was made only eleven 
years after the close of the Civil War. Sec- 
tional hatred and political passions had abated 
but little. The bloody chasm still yawned be- 
tween the North and South. There were no 
rosy links of love then binding together Mis- 
souri and Minnesota. Is it not a marvel of 
magnanimity, therefore, that the lives of the 
Youngers were spared at all? Had circum- 
stances been reversed, would we Missourlans 
have been as merciful ? Would we have been 
less resentful? Would anv other people have 
shown more forbearance and generosity than 
those of Minnesota. 



CHAPTER 4. 
In Jackson County. 

AFTER a sojourn of several weeks in 
Minnesota, on this my first and 
rather memorable trip to that state, 
my wife and I returned to our 
home in Henr}^ county, Missouri. I had 
been baffled and bluffed, but not defeated or 
even Avholly discouraged in this initial efifort 
in the far north to obtain a pardon for the 
Youngers, and I at once set about in my own 
state, sounding public opinion on the subject. 
I visited different portions of the state and 
made this pardon the burden of my conver- 
sation. No missionary in a foreign land .ever 
labored harder than I. I also had correspon- 
dence with prominent and influential men in 
other states, and thus kept up an agitation 
that, in the then distant future, was to have 
weight in the momentous result. 

In the spring of 1885 I became engaged in 
a correspondence w^ith Mrs. L. W. Twyman, 
wife of Dr. Twyman and aunt of the Young- 
ers, who resided near Blue Mills, ten miles 

[49] 



[50] 
The Yonngers' Fight for Freedom. 

east of Independence, Jackson county, Mis- 
souri. 

Mrs. Twyman, whose acquaintance led to 
such important results, because it introduced 
me, through correspondence, to Governor 
Marshall, of Minnesota, was born in Jackson 
county, Missouri, April 20', 1829. Her maiden 
name was Frances ¥. Fristoe. Her father, 
Richard Marshall Fristoe, came to Missouri in 
1817, and was one of the first judges in the 
county court in that county, in which capac- 
ity he served many years. He also served 
three years as a member of the Missouri legis- 
lature and made an honorable record. 

Miss Fristoe was married to Dr. L. W. 
Twyman, a practicing physician in Cass 
county, Missouri, in 1848. As early as 1845 
she had become a member of the Baptist 
Church at Independence, Missouri. She was 
one of the charter members, and now, in her 
77th year, she still retains her connection with 
that particular congregation. 

Cole Younger was most devotedly attached 
to his aunt, Mrs. Twyman, and through all 
the dark days of his stormy career, the Fris- 
toes and Twymans remained his faithful 
friends. 



[51] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

In her first letter to me Mrs. Twyman re- 
quested that I pay her a visit. Accordingly, I 
made a trip to Independence and there met 
John H. Taylor, a brother of Fletcher Taylor, 
who became noted during the war as a mem- 
ber of Quantrell's command. John Taylor and 
I hired a conveyance and drove to the home 
of Mrs. Twyman, reaching there about noon. 
In anticipation of our coming she had prepar- 
ed one of the finest dinners it has ever been 
my good fortune to enjoy. The table, with its 
immaculate linen and handsome ware, was lit- 
erally loaded with a feast fit for the gods, and 
the charming hospitality of both the hostess 
and her husband was one of the bright feat- 
ures in my prolonged fight for the freedom of 
the lady's nephews. This was almost at the 
beginning of the struggle, and many a dark 
and dreary year, full of labor, suspense and 
despair, was ahead of us before the bright day 
of liberty should dawn. 

After we had retired from the dinner table 
to the sittingroom, Mrs. Twyman went to her 
desk and took therefrom quite a number of let- 
ters she had received from Minnesota in refer- 
ence to her noted nephews. Among these 
were letters from Gov. William R. Marshall, 



[52] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

which she turned over to me for future use. 
She and the Governor had been in correspond- 
ence for nearly a year, for, while Marshall had 
already became enlisted in the cause of the 
Youngsters' release and had worked to that end 
in his state, Mrs. Twyman was actively at 
work in Missouri. 



CHAPTER 5. 
A Meeting at Jefferson City. 

MATTERS went on in this way until 
June, 1886, when I received a let- 
ter from Gov. Marshall, request- 
ing me to meet him at Jefferson City, 
Missouri, at a given date. I promptly com- 
plied, and the ex-chief executive of Minnesota 
and myself met for the first time at the Madi- 
son House. There we took breakfast together, 
and there was begun a friendship which was 
destined to endure through years of sore trial 
until the death of the great and good man far 
away on the Pacific slope. 

In the afternoon Gov. Marshall and I paid 
a visit to Gov. Marmaduke and the other state 
officials. The chief object of Marshall's visit 
on this occasion was to acquaint himself with 
these officials and to gain some insight into 
the character of the men whom he had been 
informed favored the pardon of the Youngers. 
He, himself, made a most happy impression 
upon the gentlemen, who were charmed with 
[53] 



[54] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

his fine manners, and they, in turn, won the 
admiration of the distinguished visitor from 
the north. Here, at least, was a glimpse of 
sunshine and a gleam of hope — a rift in the 
clouds that yet in the future, were at intervals 
to grow deeper and darker and heavier. 

Before this meeting drew to a close Gov. 
Marmaduke and his associates in the adminis- 
tration informed Gov. Marshall that they were 
ready and willing to recommend a pardon to 
the Youngers at whatever time he should 
think advisable. The undertaking was a most 
delicate one and demanded cautious and judi- 
cious treatment. To secure desired results it 
must be approached in just the proper way, 
without which no progress could be hoped for. 

The next morning Gov. Marshall and my- 
self proceeded to Kansas City for the purpose 
of holding a conference with ex-Governor T. 
T. Crittenden, Col. L. H. Waters, and other 
prominent gentlemen, for which I had arrang- 
ed. The topic was discussed from every point 
of view, fully, frankly, fairly and intelligently. 
Crittenden, a Democrat; and Waters, a Re- 
publican, who, like Crittenden, had been a dis- 
tinguished officer in the Federal army during 
the Civil War, were favorable to a pardon. 




WRS. H. W. YOUNGER, 
Mother of the Younger Brothers. 



[57] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

On Governor Marshall's return home from 
Missouri, and when his mission to this state 
had become public, he was most outrageously 
assailed from nearly every quarter of his com- 
monwealth. Partisans fought him without 
mercy; politicans traduced him; and the press, 
metropolitan and provincial, joined in criticis- 
ing him. Even the pulpit did not spare him. 
It was declared to him that no man who es- 
poused the cause of the Youngers could ever 
be elected governor of Minnesota. 



CHAPTER 6. 
Governor Marshall's Defiance. 

GOVERNOR Marshall was game from 
spur tO' plume. Having a clear 
conscience as to the rectitude of 
his course and firmly believing in it he 
stood at bay and hurled back assaults made 
upon him. One of his most notable de- 
fenses of himself was the following communi- 
cation, which he sent to the St. Paul Pioneer 
Press and which was printed in that paper 
July .26, 1886 : 

"St. Paul, July 25.— To the Editor: There 
is perhaps occasion for me to say something 
of my connection with a proposed application, 
some time in the future, for the pardon of the 
Younger brothers. Ordinarily, in a matter of 
this kind — a question of personal duty — it is 
sufficient for a man to answer to his own con- 
science. But lest those who seem disposed to 
concern themselves with my action should be 
distressed with the fear that I lack reason and 
honorable considerations for whatever I may 
have done, or purpose to do, I make this 
statement. 

[58] . , 



[59] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

"First of all these men are not as black as 
much falsehood, much prejudice, much misin- 
formation and dime biographers have painted 
them. Let me give a sample of the abundant 
misinformation that gives men who ought to 
weigh evidence gross misconceptions of their 
characters. Your interviewer reports General 
Sanborn to have said that while in command 
in Southwest Missouri he fought the guerilla 
the atrocities of that warfare. Now I have in 
my possession the evidence that would satisfy 
Gen. Sanborn that the elder Younger was not 
in Missouri at all during the year 1864, the 
year of Gen. Sanborn's command in South- 
west Missouri. The occasion of my getting 
this evidence is itself a striking illustration of 
the injustice of popular belief in regard to 
these men. 

"More than a year ago I was talking with a 
gentlemen of high character in a distant part 
of the state concerning the Youngers. He said 
as to Cole Younger he thought no punishment 
too severe for him. He remembered a horrible 
case of butchery of Federal prisoners at Cen- 
tralia, Missouri, in which Cole was engaged, 
in the fall of 1864. I answered that if Cole 
Younger had any part in that affair I could 



[60] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

have no sympathy for him ; but I would ven- 
ture to say, from the knowledge of the man 
and my estimate of his native character, that 
he had nothing to do with it. I made diligent 
inquiry and I have now in my possession a lot 
of letters from reputable men, covering the 
period from the fall or early winter of 1863 to 
the close of the war in 1865, showing conclu- 
sively just where Cole Younger was, and that 
he was not in Missouri at all during this per- 
iod. He was then a captain in the regular 
Confederate army in Southern Arkansas, Mis- 
sissippi, and Texas. I have the evidence of 
officers and men with whom he served. Early 
in 1864, at Bonham, Texas, he was ordered by 
Gen. H. E. McCulloch to go under command 
of Col. Jackman, in all 72 officers and men, 
into N'ew Mexico to recruit a regiment for the 
Confederate service. This expedition left 
Texas on the 1st of May, 1864. It failed to ac- 
complish the object of raising recruits for the 
Confederate army, and part of the command. 
Cole Younger being of the number, went into 
Arizona and finally into Sonora, Mexico, 
whence they sailed from the port of Guyamas 
for San Francisco late in the fall of 1864. Cole 
Younger remained in California — where he 



[61] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

had an uncle — until the surrender of Lee's 
army. I forwarded these letters to my friend, 
who had connected Cole Younger with the 
Centralia affair, which was in September 
1864, and he admitted that he was mistaken. 

"It is just such misrepresentations as these 
samples of Gen. Sanborn and my friend, which 
have created the belief that these men are 
monsters of iniquity. I am assured by those 
who knew Cole Younger in the regular Con- 
federate army, in Gen. Shelby's brigade of 
Price's army — part of the time in the division 
of Gen. Marmaduke, the present governor of 
Missouri — that he never was guilty of a cruel 
or unsoldierly act; but that he was an officer 
of unusual reliability. He was a captain when 
nineteen years of age. It is not true that 
either of the Youngers was personally con- 
cerned in the killing of Cashier Heywood. 
That was the act of another of the band, in- 
spired, as a large portion of murderers are, by 
the bottle. These men have committed crimes 
enough, without falsely multiplying or exag- 
gerating the offenses. No one claims that 
they are innocent of undeserving punish- 
ment. They themselves do not. It is a ques- 
tion of how deeply guilty they are; of wheth- 



[62] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

er there is anything in their youthful years 
and of crimes against them in their father's 
family that led them into a life of crime that 
palliates them in their wrong career. Whether 
there are in these men native elements of good 
and manly qualities, however latentin the past, 
which, now awakened by the judgment to 
which they have been brought, could be relied 
on in the future to • protect them from evil 
forces. Is it not remarkable that all the men, 
without exception, with whom they have been 
brought in contact — Sheriff Barton, and other 
officers in Rice county. Warden Reed, Deputy 
Warden Hall, Chaplain Harrington, and oth- 
ers of the state prison and citizens who have 
become acquainted with them — all believe 
they are men whose word and whose honor — 
yes, honor — can be depended on? I have never 
yet heard a man speak to them, who had any 
means of knowing them, who would not be 
willing to trust them. Men are not wholly 
bad who so impress others who have fair 
knowledge of character and human nature. 

"One little instance which I believe illus- 
trates the true character of these men was re- 
lated to me by a respected citizen of Rice 
county, who said it was well authenticated. 
When the Youngers were wandering in the 



[63] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

woods west of Northfield, trying to escape 
their pursuers, one of them badly wounded, 
they came at night to a lonely cabin at which 
they dared to apply for something to eat. It 
was that of a poor Irish woman, a widow, who 
with the kindness of her race, got such scanty 
meal as she could. Upon leaving to go out 
into the darkness to pursue their hopeless 
flight, she showed them where to ford a 
stream. Upon parting Cole gave her a gold 
piece, saying it was the last he had ; he wished 
it was more. A man cannot be hopelessly bad, 
who in such an extremity of fortune, does 
such a deed. Two of the brothers could no 
doubt have made their escape had they been 
been willing to leave their wounded one to his 
fate. With that devoted affection which char- 
acterized them and all_ their family, the two 
well men shared the fate in capture and what 
seemed almost certain death sooner than de- 
sert the helpless one. 

"If I had any doubt of the good conduct of 
these men, if pardoned, certainly I should not 
favor their pardon. I believe I know them. I 
knov/ their friends in Missouri, who would 
help them ; men of the highest character, who 
would no more seek their liberation than those 



[64] 
TJie Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

who so fiercely denounce pardon, if these 
friends had a doubt of the future rig-ht lives of 
the Youngers. It is a mistake to suppose that 
the friends of the Youngers in Missouri are 
men who think lightly of crime, or who would 
risk endangering society. They are right- 
minded Christian men and women in the high- 
est walks of life, embracing state officials, ex- 
governors, members of Congress, of the State 
Legislature, ministers of the church, lawyers 
and doctors and business men, of large inter- 
est and property responsibility. It argues that 
there is something extraordinary in the quali- 
ties of these Youngers that they command the 
interest and friendship of such men. It is true 
that men of unquestioned responsibility have 
given assurance that bonds in the penalty of 
one million dollars can be given that the 
Youngers, if pardoned, will return to Missouri 
and live open, orderly, useful lives. If I did 
not from my own knowledge and judgment of 
these men believe there was good in them I 
should be strongly persuaded that it was so 
by the number and character of their devoted 
friends. Like Byron's Greece — 

" Mt were long to tell and sad to trace 
Their fall from splendor to disgrace — ' " 
(From honesty to crime). 




DR. L. W. TWYMAN, 
Uncle of the Youiiaers. 



[67] 
The Youngers" Fight for Freedom, 

''They were of a good family; their father 
a prosperous and respectable man, their grand- 
father a judge of the courts. The breaking out 
of the rebellion was the signal for the renewal 
of those border troubles between Kansas and 
Missouri that disgraced the age. Their father 
was murdered and robbed, their property 
plundered and their home burned over their 
heads. These m^n were then boys — Cole 17, 
Jim 13, and Bob 7. Four years of war ensued. 
War in that region was little better on both 
sides than murder and rapine. 

"There was little to choose, as is" well 
know to those acquainted with the facts, be- 
tween the deeds of the Union men — the Kan- 
sas Jayhawkers under Jennison, and the like — 
and the Southern men under Quantrell. Well 
might many a Southern man have exclaimed 
with the victims of the French Revolution : 

"'Oh, Liberty (and the Union), what crim- 
es are committed in thy name.' 

"Is it any wonder that men — boys — of 
strong passion, amid such scenes and subject 
to such outrages, should have the moral sense 
obscured and should have graduated into 
crime? Add to these considerations that after 
the war the elder sought peaceful pursuits, but 
was not permitted. Or is it any wonder that 



[68] 
The Yoiingers' Fight for Freedom, 

the younger ones, yet boys — for Cole was but 
twenty-one, Jim seventeen, and Bob eleven at 
the close of the war — should have shared the 
fortune of their elder brother? These are the 
facts that in some degree palliate their ca- 
reer; there can be no excuse or justification. 
I think great allowance is to be made for 
youth. The moral sense does not seem to de- 
velop with the body ; its maturity comes later. 
My friend, Governor Davis, professes to doubt 
whether a boy of fifteen is really endowed 
with a soul. My sense of this want of innate 
moral guidance of the young led me when 
Governor to urgently recommend the estab- 
lishing of a reform school, which has been so 
beneficent an institution. 

"But all these considerations would hardly 
have led me to favor pardon for the Youngers, 
if I had not well-established convictions of the 
practical wisdom of a policy in respect to crim- 
inals of charity and mercy. It is my settled 
belief that severity of punishment of crimi- 
nals does not promote the best interests of so- 
ciety. When hanging in England a century 
ago was the punishment for theft and petty 
crimes it did not deter men from stealing or 
diminish crime. The tendency of higher civ- 



The Youngers Fight for Freedom. 

ilization is to ameliorate the condition of crim- 
inals and to diminish punishment. The law of 
kindness, discreetly applied, I believe more 
potent for the reformation (^ wrong-doers and 
the protection of society than retaliatory pun- 
ishment. Indeed, no enlightened man now ad- 
vocates the latter. Our system of administer- 
ing justice is, at best, crude and mechanical. 
The sentence for crime of one year, or ten, or 
life can only be approximately just. The true 
end of such punishment is the protection of 
society and the reformation of the offender. 
The lawmaker and the judge can only guess 
at what, on a sort of average, will suffice for 
these ends. It is impossible for a judge or a 
jury to know the whole character and quality 
of the criminal that led to the crime. 

"I think the pardoning power wisely exists 
to supplement the machinery of courts and 
justice. It has existed in all ages and under 
all governments. My conviction is that, when- 
ever it is possible to know with reasonable 
certainty that a convict has come to such an 
awakened moral sense that he can be depend- 
ed upon to lead an honest life, and that if lib- 
erated he would take his place as a law-abid- 
ing citizen, then there is no good to any one 
in continuing his imprisonment. In prison he 



[TO] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

is a burden to society. I grant the difficulty 
of judging when a prisoner may safely be set 
free. It is only difficult, not impossible. Jus- 
tice to the indiviiual and good of society de- 
mands at all times that effort be made to know 
who, under this rule, should be liberated. 

''The indeterminate sentence and ticket-of- 
leave plans, which were so ably discussed 
and highly commended in the late conference 
in this city, are in this direction, and would 
more perfectly attain the end of liberating 
prisoners when prepared for it, but in the ab- 
sence in our state of constitutional pOAver or 
laws to put in practice these methods, there is 
no way but by pardon to release men that can 
safely be trusted to assume the duties and ob- 
ligations of citizenship. 

''In the case of the Youngers, believing as I 
do fully that they could be depended on to 
make law-abiding men in the future, instead 
of being a burden to the state as inmates of the 
prison ; could be useful members of society — 
and of this I am so fully persuaded that if it 
were admissible I would engage to take their 
place and serve out their life sentence myself, 
if they, upon being pardoned, should return to 
an evil life — I have given assurance to their 




MRS. FANNIE TWYMAN, 
Aunt of the Youngers. 



[73] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

friends in Missouri that whenever they should 
after ten years service of the Youngers in 
prison apply for their pardon, I would, so far 
as my humble influence could go, recommend 
it. The statistics of prisoners show, I believe, 
that a fraction over nine years is the average 
term served by life prisoners. In our state, 
allowance is made for good conduct, equal to 
six days in each month. The Youngers have 
by their unvarying good conduct earned this 
full allowance. If their life sentence were 
commuted to twelve years they would go out 
— with this deduction — at the end of about ten 
years. I do not expect that what I may say in 
this matter will in any appreciable degree in- 
fluence the adverse public opinion of the state. 
I am not willing by silence to have it 
thought that any severity of criticism or 
storm of obliquy can intimidate me from show- 
ing my convictions of duty or my purpose to 
befriend those unfortunate men. 

*T should trespass unpardonably on your 
columns if I noticed many of the extraordi- 
nary criticisms and suggestions of some of 
your contributors. One I will notice. It is the 
proposition that any candidate for Governor 
should be pledged in advance of nomination or 



[74] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

election never to pardon the Younger broth- 
ers. No man worthy to be governor of Min- 
nesota would give such a pledge, any more 
than a judge in advance of a complaint and the 
testimony would give a pledge as to how he 
would decide a case in court. Any man wise 
and just enough to be a governor may well be 
left to decide any application for pardon when 
the application is made, and the reasons in 
support of it are submitted. 

''The Great Master taught that an eye for 
an eye and a tooth for a tooth was not the 
highest morality or wisdom. I yet know no 
better, doctrine than His that if ye forgive not 
men their trespasses, neither will your Father 
in Heaven forgive you. I remember that when 
He pictured the final separation of the good 
and the bad, to the redeemed He would say, T 
was in prison and ye visited Me,' and when 
they answered, 'When saw we Thee in prison 
and visited Thee?' he said, 'Inasmuch as ye 
did it unto the least of these, ye did it unto 
Me.' I remember that to the woman taken in 
the act of adultery He said, 'Neither do I con- 
demn thee ; go and sin no more.' 

"I remember that He was crucified between 
two malefactors, and that to one He said, 



[T5] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

'This day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.' 
I know no higher wisdom in the conduct of 
men than the application of these precepts and 

this example." 

At my own expense I had twenty-five thou- 
sand copies of the above letter printed by T. 
J. Lingle, then editor of the Clinton, Missouri, 
Democrat. These were distributed throughout 
Missouri, Arkansas, and Kentucky, and 
doubtless favorably influenced to no small ex- 
tent the public mind in regard to the Young- 
ers. 



CHAPTER 7. 
A Second Defense. 

IN the St. Paul Pioneer Press, August 13, 
1886, there appeared a second letter 
from Governor Marshall, which reads 
as follows: 

"St. Paul, Aug. 9, 1886.— To the Editor : I 
have great aversion to troubling you further 
in the matter of the Youngers, but a feeling 
that prejudice and injustice are done men who 
are helpless to defend themselves impels me to 
speak again in their behalf. The right of a 
prison convict to have only the truth spoken 
of him is as sacred as that of the highest man 
in the land. You published Sunday a review 
of the purported history of the Youngers from 
which you reproduce that intrinsically improb- 
able story of the elder one shooting prisoners 
in a line to see through how many one ball 
would penetrate. No time or place is named 
for this Munchausen event ; nothing would 
enable one to verify or disprove this story. 

"In our courts a man on trial is secured the 
right to testify, if he will, in his own behalf, 
the credibility and weight of the testimony to 
[76] 



[77] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

be judged of by the jury. This is the only re- 
course in the case at hand. I ask, therefore, 
that you allow Coleman Younger to testify 
both as to matters charged and as to the au- 
thenticity of these so-called histories. I en- 
close you a letter of his, written some days 
ago, in answer to one calling his attention to 
earlier mention of some one in your columns 
of these biographies, etc. Now as to the cred- 
ibility of this witness : For ten years the offi- 
cers of the state prison, men of discernment 
an<i intelligence and of large experience with 
men, and of human nature in its darkest phas- 
es, have known the writer of this letter, and 
have formed a deliberate judgment as to his 
character for truth or otherwise. Without ex- 
ception they have believed that his word could 
be depended on. I would name Warden 
Reed, the lamented Deputy-Warden, Abe 
Hall, and Chaplain Harrington among others. 
I met in St. Paul today a man of high charac- 
ter, well known throughout the state, who for 
years had been an inspector — one of the gov- 
erning board — of the prison. He extended his 
hand saying: 'I want to congratulate you. 
You are right in regard to the Youngers. They 
are men who can be trusted,' etc. If it were 



[78] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

not enough that odium shall attach to only one 
for speaking- in behalf of these men, I could 
name men wiser and better than I, who share 
the same belief in the trustworthiness of their 
word. Let me take occasion to say to your 
correspondent, Mr. Rankin, who does not be- 
lieve Col. Van Horn, the Republican ex-mem- 
ber of Congress from Missouri, favors pardon 
of the Youngers, that he will find in the Gov- 
ernor's office a letter filed a year or two ago 
recommending their pardon." 

On August 1, 1886, Cole Younger sent the 
following letter to Gov. Marshall, on receipt of 
the Governor's letter of July 26': 

"Stillwater, Minn., Aug. 1, 1886— Hon. Wil- 
liam R. Marshall, St. Paul : Your kind favor 
of July 29 was received with many thanks. I 
do not take the Pioneer Press and have not 
seen the interview with Col. Fladd. I under- 
stand there are several so-called histories of 
the James and Younger brothers, but I had 
nothing to do with them. They are merely a 
rehash of sensational newspaper stories. I 
never knew or ever had any interview with 
anyone engaged in getting up these histories. 
T have steadily refused all applications for any 
information in getting them up. As for the 



[79] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

war, I have said that I was engaged in the 
bloody warfare on the border of Missouri and 
Kansas. As you truthfully said in your letter 
to the Pioneer Press, it was little better on 
both sides than murder. That is the original 
cause of my being in prison to-day. In all 
that time of service in Missouri, I was either 
a private or subordinate officer, acting under 
orders. In 1862-63, I was a lieutenant in Cap- 
tain Jarrette's company, Shelby's brigade of 
Price's army. All soldiers, whether they wore 
the blue or the gray, know that they take an 
oath to obey officers appointed over them, and 
all good soldiers obey the orders of their su- 
perior officers. As for the kind of soldier I 
made, I leave that to the honorable Federal 
and Confederate soldiers that I fought against 
and with, who now live in Missouri. I know 
that no one will say that he ever knew me to 
be guilty of any individual act of cruelty to 
the wounded or prisoners of our foe. I do not 
believe there is a brave Federal soldier in Min- 
nesota to-day who, if he knew every act of 
mine during the war, but what would give me 
the right hand of a soldier's recognition. I 
Avas engaged in many bloody battles where it 
was death or victory. I tried to do my part, 



[80] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

any true soldier would. All articles, such as 
referred to, are false when they charge me 
with shooting unresisting men or wounded 
prisoners. No man who has respect for the 
truth will say that I ever ordered the execution 
of a citizen at any place during the war — at 
Lawrence or any where else. Not one of my 
brothers ever soldiered with me a day. As to 
a story going the rounds that during the war I 
captured fifteen men, tied them together and 
tried to shoot through them all, it is false from 
beginning to end. I never heard of anything 
like it having been committed during the war, 
in Missouri, Kansas or anywhere else. I know 
of no foundation for the falsehood. The whole 
thing was so absurd that I never supposed 
any sensible man would believe it. I have al- 
ways supposed the story was gotten up by 
some reporter as a burlesque on sensational 
newspapers." 



CHAPTER 8. 
A Visit and a Petition. 

IN THE early autumn of 1886, Gov. Mar- 
shall and his son, George, visited Hot 
Springs, Arkansas, and on their return 
in October became guests of myself and 
family at our country home eight miles north- 
east of Clinton. The elder Marshall remained 
ten days and the son stayed seven weeks. Gov. 
Marshall was still anxious to see more of Mis- 
sourians and was given opportunity to meet 
mau}^ of them at my house, at Clinton, and 
elsewhere in this section of the state. 

He was a most charming man to entertain, 
and naturally felt kinship with people of this 
state, for he was born in Boone county, Mis- 
souri, his birthplace being between Columbia 
and Ashland on the turnpike. He removed to 
Minnesota before its admission into the Union 
and followed civil engineering. He early at- 
tained prominence and at the outbreak of the 
Civil War enlisted in the Federal army and 
rose to the rank of colonel, commanding a 
Minnesota regiment. 

[81] 



[82] 
The Youngcrs' Fight for Freedom, 

Soon after the restoration of peace, Col. 
IMarshall received the RepubHcan nomination 
for Governor of his state and was twice 
elected, serving- four years in all and giving 
the people an administration that is still re- 
membered as one of the best they have ever 
fiad. 

George Langford Marshall, the only child of 
Gov. Marshall, was a handsome and engaging 
young man, twenty-three years of age at the 
time he visited at my house. He had been 
reared in luxury and had been blessed with 
all the fine opportunities of education and se- 
lect society. 

Soon after his return to St. Paul he made 
a trip to Europe and remained a year or more 
in Paris. Returning home, his health began 
to fail and he and his mother went to Hot 
Springs, North Carolina. There George met 
his future wife, the daughter of Colonel Rum- 
baugh, of North Carolina, who had served 
with distinction in the southern army. The 
romantic part of the engagement and marriage 
lay in the fact that the son of a Federal col- 
onel in the distant north wooed and wedded 
the daughter of a Confederate colonel in the 
far south. The young couple returned to St, 




FRANK JAMES. 



[85] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

Paul to make their home, and there I had the 
pleasure of meeting the accomplished and 
charming young southern bride. 

Soon after this Mr. Marshall made a busi- 
ness trip to Asheville, North Carolina. His 
health again failed him and he went to Hot 
Springs, Arkansas. En route home from there 
he died suddenly on the train. 

I continued the pardon agitation throughout 
the years 18-86 and 1887, going from place to 
place in Missouri and elsewhere, and keeping 
up correspondence with people whose aid I 
knew would be valuable. When I met Cole 
Younger in prison in 1884 he remarked to me 
that, unless assistance was given and co-oper- 
ation secured outside of Minnesota the fate of 
himself and his brothers would surely be 
sealed and they would never be able to get 
out. I recognized and appreciated this fact 
as fully as he did and determined to leave no 
stone unturned to accomplish the object which 
had now become almost a passion with me. 

In the spring or summer of 1888, during 
Gov. McGill's administration, I received a tel- 
egram from the late Maj. John N. Edwards 
to come to Kansas City at once, as he had im- 
portant business for me, which demanded im- 



[86] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

mediate attention. I lost no time in answering 
the summons in person. In Kansas City, Maj. 
Edwards, already enlisted in my enterprise, in- 
troduced me to a gentleman named Liberty 
Hall — a patriotic, if not a peculiar, name for an 
individual to bear about. It was his real 
name, however — nothing fictitious about it. 
Mr. Hall was then residing in Kansas City, 
was a newspaper man by profession, and being 
a native of Minnesota and thoroughly ac- 
quainted with public men and general condi- 
tions there, had volunteered to assist in the lib- 
eration scheme, asking only enough money to 
use for legitimate purposes. Maj. Edwards re- 
commended him as entirely trustworthy. In 
fact, he at once impressed me favorably and I 
had little difficulty, together with my friend 
Edwards, in making satisfactory terms and ar- 
rangements for the undertaking. Liberty Hall 
soon thereafter took his departure for the 
north and did honest, earnest, and effective 
work. 

It was at this time that Maj. Edwards, who 
was a master of the English language and 
whose brilliant and fascinating literary style is 
still the admiration of many readers, drew up 
the famous petition to the Hon. William R. 



[87] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

Merriam, then governor of Minnesota. This 
petition, phrased in Edwards' most convincing 
and captivating rhetoric, set forth ten separate 
and distinct reasons why the Youngers should 
be pardoned, and was intended, before being 
sent to Gov. Merriam to be signed by as many 
members of the General Assembly of Missouri 
as could be induced to do so. 



CHAPTER 9. 
The John N. Edwards Petition. 



w 



WW M, M HT' E, THE undersigned mem- 
bers of the General Assem- 
bly of Missouri, most re- 
spectfully ask at your 
hand the pardon of Cole, James, and Bob 
Younger, now confined in the Stillwater 
Prison, and for the following reasons : 

'T)ecause they have been in prison for more 
than thirteen years. 

"Because during this entire period their be- 
havior has been so excellent as to win not 
alone the respect, but perfect confidence of the 
prison authorities. 

"Every intention of the law has been ful- 
filled, in this, that the punishment for the vio- 
lation of it has been ample and complete. 

"If restored again to freedom, almost the en- 
tire population of this state would stand se- 
curity as a mass to their becoming law-abid- 
ing, peaceful, upright and worthy citizens. 

"Because their downfall and departure from 
the path of rectitude was unquestionably the 

[88] 



[89] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

direct result of the unfavorable conditions sur- 
rounding them during and following the late 
Civil War. 

"Whatever may have been said to the con- 
trary, the men were brave and honorable sol- 
diers in battle, and merciful in victory. 

"Because these men have served twice the 
length of time allotted the life prisoners com- 
mitted to prison on life sentences — less than 
ten years being the average time. 

"Because we are informed that every warden 
under whom they have served has learned 
from close contact with them to trust them 
and to place them in positions of responsibil- 
ity, and have advised that, if liberated, they 
would become good, honorable and useful cit- 
izens. 

"Because they are now old men, and we be- 
lieve the spirit of Christian charity and mercy 
suggests that they should be permitted to 
spend their few remaining days among their 
friends and relatives, many of whom are ready 
and willing to furnish them constant employ- 
ment, by reason of which they may and Avill 
be self-supporting and independent. 

"Because it is a recognized principle of 
I'ienology that the object of all punishment is 



[90] 
The Youngers Fight for Freedom, 

to reform the punished, and when this reform- 
ation has been accomplished, to longer con- 
tinue the punishment is of no benefit, but is 
turning the arm of the law into an instrument 
of torture to satiate revenge. 

''Your petitioners are of all political faiths, 
and are of either military service. We simply 
come to you as one united whole, asking this 
pardon in the name of mercy and humanity, 
ever praying your help, happiness, and long 
continued prosperity." 



CHAPTER 10. 
The First Effort. 

ONE day, in the year 1889, I received 
word from Captain Stephen C. 
Reagan, at Kansas City, that Hon. 
Waller Young, of St. Joseph, rep- 
resentative from the county of Buchanan, 
who had been circulating the above petition 
and who had secured six or seven names of 
legislators to it, had been taken ill and was 
unable to continue the work. I was urged to 
hasten to Jefiferson City and take charge of 
the petition. I left on the first train and be- 
gan the task immediately upon my arrival 
there. 

"Task" is hardly a strong enough word to 
designate the enterprise I had in hand. If any 
person thinks he can go to Jefferson City dur- 
ing a session of the legislature, and succeed 
w4th a petition in a few days and with ease, 
he is grievously mistaken. An ordinary un- 
dertaking of this kind involves much trouble, 
time and toil. Overwhelmingly was this the 
truth in the present instance. The favor I 

[91] 



[92] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

asked was of an extraordinary character. 
Nothing- of its kind or importance had ever 
been presented to the State's lawmakers. They 
represented various shades of political affilia- 
tion and opinion. Often it was with difficulty 
that I could have even a word with a member. 
He was busy at something else. He had to 
look after some particular and pressing- inter- 
est of his importunate constituents to the ex- 
clusion of everything else. Other members had 
to be coaxed and flattered and argued with. 
And so it went on until five weeks had passed 
away and I was thoroughly worn and wearied. 

But I had gained a victory. I succeeded in 
getting the signature of nearly every member 
of the House and I also got twenty-eight out 
of the thirty-four Senators. Moreover, I was 
given letters from every state official, with the 
exception of Gov. D. R. Francis, who declined 
to grant me that favor. 

In this campaign of 1889 I had not only the 
Edwards petition, and letters from Missouri 
officials, but exceedingly strong letters also 
from many of the leading men of Minnesota. 
These men, in nearly every instance, enjoyed 
state reputations, and not a few of them were 
known throughout the United States as hold- 



[95] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

ing- or having held positions of importance or 
as having accomplished something out of the 
ordinary in journalism, in the law, in literature 
or in legislative affairs. 

Among the most prominent of them may be 
named the late Honorable Ignatius Donnelly, 
who had been a member of Congress from 
Minnesota, who had been a great political fac- 
tor, not only in his own state, but in the na- 
tion, and who had gained widespread fame as 
a Shakespearean controversialist and as the au- 
thor of a number of novels, mostly of a polit- 
ical character. His books entitled, "Bricks 
Without Straw," and "A Fool's Errand," had 
a tremendous sale some twenty years ago, and 
his claim that the works attributed to Shakes- 
peare were really written by Lord Bacon, 
caused a sensation not only in the United 
States, but in England and Europe. 

Mr. Donnelly furnished the following let- 
ter: 

"St. Paul, Minn., July 18, 1889. 

"I remember an incident which occurred 
when the Northfield robbers were seeking to 
escape from this state. In the woods, not far 
from Mankato, they were encountered by a cit- 
izen — a German, T think — who was looking for 



[96] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

his cattle. The fiii^^itives perceived that he 
recog-nized them. The two associates of the 
Youngers, who afterwards escaped from the 
state, proposed that, for their own safety, they 
should kill the man. To this the Youngers 
strenuously objected. It was then suggested 
that he be gagged and tied to a tree in the 
depths of the forest and left there. The Young- 
ers replied that this would be more cruel than 
to kill him outright, as he might starve to 
death before he was discovered by those who 
might save him. Upon this question the 
Youngers quarreled with their two associates 
in crime and separated. The Youngers gave 
the man his life, but swore him not to reveal 
the fact that he had met them. He did not 
keep his oath. I always thought there was 
something heroic in this action of these fugi- 
tives from justice, at a time when the woods 
swarmed with their pursuers. They were 
ready to risk their own lives rather than take 
the life of that stranger. It manifested a noble 
humanity when every circumstance of their 
desperate situation incited them to cruelty and 
bloodshed. Now, I am told the youngest of 
these brothers, then a mere boy in years, lies 
at the point of death. It seems to me that you 



[97] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

can now justly remember that act of humanity 
performed years ago in the woods of Blue 
Earth county, and permit this poor criminal 
to die outside the shadow of the penitentiary, 
and in the midst of those who love him. I be- 
lieve that such an exercise of your executive 
clemency will be justified by every humane 
heart in the state." 

Another gentleman of national eminence, 
Avho assisted me, was the late General Henry 
H. Sibley, of St. Paul. He had played a con- 
spicuous part in the early days of Minnesota 
history. He had been a Territorial Governor, 
in which capacity he had had much to do with 
the various tribes of. Indians in that section ; 
had assisted in the formation of the State of 
Minnesota, and had been honored by being 
elected its first governor. He had also served 
with much distinction in the United States 
Senate from that state. 

The incident attending the occasion when I 
secured his letter, recommending clemency for 
the Youngers, was rather interesting. Gov. 
Marshall had kindly given me a note of intro- 
duction to him, and I hastened to call on the 
venerable soldier and statesman at his elegant 
home in St. Paul. Gen. Siblev was then an in- 



[98] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

valid and confined to his bed. He received me 
most cordially. He presented a striking figure 
as he lay on his bed — a tall, spare man, griz- 
zled and gray from over a half-century of ser- 
vice for his state and country. 

Propped up on the pillow he called to his 
maidservant to bring him writing material, 
and on a pad of paper he penned the following 
letter, which had great weight in the final re- 
sult : 

"St. P'aul, Minn., July 8, 1889. 

"I feel it to be my duty to join in the appeal 
for pardon to the three convicts known as the 
Younger brothers, who have been incarcerated 
in the state prison at Stillwater for the past 
thirteen years. In so doing, I depart from the 
rule which has governed me, not to interfere 
with the course of justice, except under very 
exceptional circumstances. 

''Believing the ends of justice to have been 
fully answered by the long and severe punish- 
ment inflicted upon the convicts mentioned, 
and taking into consideration the excellent 
record made by them during their confine- 
ment, I am persuaded that their release from 
further punishment would be favorably re- 
garded by a majority of the people of the state. 



[99] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

as an exercise of that comity toward a sister 
state which has appealed to your Excellency, 
through many of her high officials and other 
representative citizens, to pardon these young 
men and restore them to their friends, guar- 
anteeing that in such event, they will prove to 
be law-abiding citizens. 

"Minnesota has shown her power to punish 
malefactors, let her now manifest her magna- 
nimity, by opening the prison doors to the 
men who have so long suffered for a violation 
of her laws, and bid them 'go and sin no 
more.' " 

Before I left Gen. Sibley's residence a del- 
egation of Sioux Indians called on him to pay 
their respects and have a conference with 
him. The General had always been held in 
great esteem and veneration by the Red men 
of the Northwest. 

In discussing the Youngers' pardon one day, 
Gov. Marshall overheard John C. Wise, a dis- 
tinguished editor and citizen of Mankato, Min- 
nesota, express himself as favorable to execu- 
tive clemency toward the boys, and at my re- 
quest the Governor gave me a line of intro- 
duction to the gentleman. I went to Mankato, 
which is situated in Blue Earth county, and 

LOfC. 



[100] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

which is historic as the place where Little 
Crow and thirty-five other Indians were legally 
executed for participation in the great Indian 
uprising and massacre of white settlers in Min- 
nesota in 1863. Mankato is a point, also, 
through which the Youngers passed in their 
flight from Northfield in li876, and near which 
they captured a German. A consultation was 
held among the bandits as to whether he 
should be killed to prevent him from giving in- 
formation as to the route the fugitives were 
taking. This led to a quarrel and separation 
between the Youngers and their two associ- 
ates, the former protesting against such cru- 
elty. The German was released, broke his oath 
to keep silence, and hastened to Mankato with 
valuable news for the pursuing party. 

Mr. Wise cheerfully gave me the following 
letter : 

''Mankato, Minn., July 12, 1889. 

"Believing that the ends of justice have been 
well satisfied and vindicated by the long im- 
prisonment of the Younger brothers, I desire 
to join in the petition for their pardon. I was 
a resident of this city at the time of the North- 
field raid, and the pursuit and capture of the 
Younger boys, and I am well satisfied were 



[101] 
The Youngers Fight for Freedom. 

they the blood-thirsty men represented there 
were many opportunities during their pursuit 
when they could have killed or wounded their 
pursuers, but it was not done. One instance I 
remember when they captured a German farm 
laborer in this vicinity and sought to get in- 
formation about the road. The man could not 
give it, and they were somewhat perplexed as 
to what to do with him, fearing that if he 
was released he might give their pursuers in- 
formation that would lead to their capture. 
Some one of the ' party proposed that they 
should kill him, but Coleman Younger inter- 
posed a strenuous objection, insisted that the 
man should not be harmed,, and largely 
through his efforts he was released unharmed 
and returned to his family. If, however, in 
your judgment, you are not fully convinced of 
pardoning the three at this time, in view of 
the severe and fatal illness of Bob Younger, 
every dictate of humanity pleads that clemency 
may be extended to him, and that he may be 
permitted to return to his relatives and friends 
for the care and attention that they alone can 
bestow." 

David Day was postmaster at St. Paul, hav- 
ing served a term under President Cleve- 



[102] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

land's first administration, but was just in the 
act of vacating the office and turning it over 
to his RepubHcan successor, William Lee, 
when I first met both of them in the Federal 
building and obtained the following letter and 
endorsement : 

^ "St. P'aul, Minn., July 2, 1889. 

"At the time of the incarceration of the 
Younger brothers in the state prison at Still- 
water, I was an officer of that institution, and 
necessarily became acquainted with them, and 
have since that time inquired diligently into 
their history, and the circumstances connected 
with the crime committed by them and their 
confederates at Northfield. 

"The result of these inquiries is to convince 
me at this time, the ends of justice have been 
accomplished upon them, in the wounds they 
have received in their capture, and their im- 
prisonment, and that to detain them longer in 
confinement is simply wreaking vengeance 
upon men who have been peculiarly unfortu- 
nate in their lives from circumstances over 
which they have never had control. 

"I am absolutely certain that if they are re- 
stored to liberty they will hereafter make good 
citizens, and live a life of quiet usefulness. 




W. W. MURPHY, 
Sheriff Who Captured the Youngers. 



[105] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

Their case is one of the last remaining re- 
minders of the late war between the states and 
it seems to me that it is a great privilege to 
you, as the Governor of Minnesota to make 
this contribution to the settlement of one of 
the most lamentable phases that that struggle 
left to the American people, by granting them 
the pardon the law invested you with. 

"Should you desire, I should be pleased to 
give you in detail the reasons why I think that 
in their case the ends of justice have been ac- 
complished and that they are now entitled to 
that mercy which the law invests in the execu- 
tive of our state. Doubtless they have griev- 
ously sinned, but they have grievously suffered 
for it, and are entitled to that mercy that we 
all hope to receive for our transgressions. 

"I am now glad to be counted, as one who 
publicly advocates, and desires to be known as 
an advocate of the pardon- of the Younger 
brothers." 

Mr. Lee added the following: "I fully en- 
dorse the views expressed by Dr. Day in the 
above letter." 

The Honorable D. M. Sabin, former United 
States Senator from Minnesota, wrote as fol- 
lows : 



[106] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

"My observation of the conduct of the 
Younger brothers during their confinement the 
last thirteen years leads me to the conclusion 
that the ends of justice in their case have been 
fully met, and their further confinement can 
in no way benefit the public generally, either 
in this state or elsewhere. 

''I have no hesitancy in placing myself on 
record i-n recommending unqualifiedly their 
pardon, and sincerely trust your Excellency 
may see your way clear to grant their prayer." 

Honorable Horace W. Pratt, of Minneapo- 
lis, ex-president of the State Agricultural So- 
ciety, was an ardent friend and admirer of 
Senator George G. Vest, of Missouri, and had 
made trips with him to the Yellowstone Park. 
Mr. Pratt wrote as follows : 

*'I desire to add my testimony to what I be- 
lieve to be a growing sentiment of the people 
of this state. That in the case of the Younger 
brothers the law has been vindicated and that 
mercy should now actuate you in considering 
their application for the exercise of the par- 
doning power on your part. I think that such 
pardon would be received by the people as a 
just and merciful act, and I most earnestly ask 
that you pardon them. Thirteen years of most 



[107] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

exemplary prison conduct should bear its re- 
ward. I sincerely hope that you will see your 
way to do this act of mercy." 

B. G. Yates, one of the captors of the 
Younger brothers, and who is given credit for 
having shot Jim Younger through the jaw 
in the final fight, was one of my most enthu- 
siastic and influential supporters for pardon, 
and wrote as follows to the Governor : 

"Perhaps I ought to beg pardon in advance 
for a second time addressing you on this sub- 
ject, but my deep interest in the matter and a 
feeling after a visit to the prison, that I have 
not done all that I might do to secure the re- 
lease of Bob Younger, at least, is my excuse. 

"It is usual, I believe, to grant some days of 
grace for good behavior to the worst criminals 
and set them free before their sentence is fully 
expired. This, it would seem, is all that can 
be done now for this man, Robert. I am well 
aware of the unreasoning prejudice in some 
quarters against clemency for these men, but 
is it not a fact that they are now in prison be- 
cause of crimes that, rumor has it, they com- 
mitted in other states and in other times of 
which they are probably innocent? At least 
these things have never been proved against 



[108] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

them, and I envy not the man whose heart is 
so calloused to all the better instincts of hu- 
manity, who would begrudge Bob Younger the 
few days of his life probably left to him. And 
believe, Mr. Governor, while I went out with 
horse, guns, and clerks — closing my place of 
business — after these men, none of us having 
the slightest intention of bringing them in 
alive, I would now rather take a pardon from 
Your Excellency to them, especially to Bob, 
than to have a present of one thousand dol- 
lars." 

Capt. W. W. Murphy, of Watonwan county, 
Minnesota, took a prominent part in the cap- 
ture of the Youngers, and ever afterwards their 
firm friend. He wrote : 

"I venture to address you with regard to a 
pardon for the Younger brothers, now con- 
fined at Stillwater. I was one of those who 
took part in their arrest at this place (Madelia) 
and probably did as much towards accom- 
plishing that result as any other one. I now 
feel and believe that the demands of justice 
have been satisfied, in their case, and that if 
now made free men they would lead commend- 
able lives in the future. I do ask and sincerely 



[109] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

hope that you will extend executive clemency 
to them, and allow them to return to their 
homes, friends, and kindred." 

George A. Bradford, of Madelia, Minnesota, 
a captor of the Youngers, made the following 
appeal to the Governor: 

"I have the honor to address you in regard 
to the Younger brothers, now serving life sen- 
tence in the Stillwater prison. 

"Having participated in the capture of these 
men, I take the liberty to ask you, in consid- 
eration of their extremely good behavior and 
seeming desire to reform and live better lives, 
to give them a full pardon." 



CHAPTER 11. 
Northward Again. 

ARMED with the most of these doc- 
uments I went to Kansas City and 
from there to St. Paul about the 
middle of June, 1889, accompanied 
by Col. E. F. Rogers, a distinguished Union 
veteran of the Civil War, and Capt. Stephen 
C. Reagan, a prominent Confederate veteran. 
Both of these gentlemen were residents of 
Kansas City and, though of opposite political 
faiths, in full sympathy with the mission on 
which we set out. 

Col. Rogers was born in Shelby county, 
Kentucky, in 1830. He removed with his par- 
ents to Hendricks county, Indiana, in 1836, 
where he received a common school education. 
In 1857 he removed to Bates county, Missouri. 
Col. Rogers says : 

''I was a Republican, hence had no political 
friends there. In 1860', after the election of 
Abraham Lincoln to the presidency, the cry 
of 'War! War!' was heard in the front and in 
the rear, on the left and on the right. I was 

[110] 



[Ill] 

The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

against a conflict between my own people, and 
believed the ties binding Christians together, 
and the fraternal feeling with Masons, were 
too strong to permit of war between neigh- 
bors, but on April 12, 1861, the signal gun at 
Fort Sumter was fired and resounded to the 
uttermost parts of the earth. 

"Being a descendant of a military ancestry 
and knowing I had always been protected by 
the United States government, that had been 
attacked, I at once chose the side of Wash- 
ington, Jackson, Douglas, Lincoln, Grant and 
the innumerable host standing between danger 
and the Stars and Stripes." 

Col. Rogers remained with the Federal 
army, as an officer, from June 27, 1861, until 
after the bloody battle of Lone Jack, Missouri, 
August 16, 1862. There he was shot squarely 
through the breast and permanently disabled. 
He lay in the same room with Maj.. Foster 
and brother, both of whom were desperately 
wounded, and declares that his life was saved 
by Cole Younger. 

In 1863 Col. Rogers moved to Kansas City. 
The following year he was elected president 
of the Common Council there, and in 1867 was 
appointed United States assessor. He was com- 



[112] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

pelled to resign the assessorship in 1869 on 
account of ill health. 

The Younger family were well known by 
Col. Rogers before the war. In speaking of 
Cole he says : "Not a blot stained his charac- 
ter. His father was the highest type of a gen- 
uine good man, and was most respected by 
those who knew him best." 

Col. Rogers relates the following war rem- 
iniscence : 

"During the winter of 1860-61, my regiment 
was stationed at Harrisonville, Missouri, and 
some time during that winter one of the cit- 
izens gave a ball. Cole and a Captain Walley 
of our regiment attended the dance. This 
Captain Walley engaged the company of a 
young lady to dance with him during the even- 
ing. When he went to her for the next dance 
she told him she had decided to take Mr. 
Younger for that particular dance. Capt. Wal- 
ley was greatly enraged. He went to Cole and 
said, T'll make no disturbance here, Mr. 
Younger, but I'll kill you the first opportunity 
I get.' Now we all knew that the captain 
was a vicious man and not afraid of blood. 
Younger felt that there was but one course left 
for his safety, to leave home. Takings that 
step led to others. 




IRA BARTON, 
SherifF of Rice County, Minnesota, who took charge 
of the Youngers after their capture. 



[115] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

"But he never lost the courage and manly 
principles of a gentleman. For I heard him 
raise his voice against insults by cowardly 
Confederates to our wounded at Lone Jack, 
Missouri, and declare that he would protect 
the Union soldiers against insult at the cost of 
his life." 

This w^as the same Capt. Walley who soon 
afterwards murdered Cole's father, H. W. 
Younger. Retaliation for the murder was the 
first of the son's desperate exploits. 

Arriving at St. Paul, we promptly called 
upon Gov. Marshall, who had been apprised of 
our coming. At the conclusion of our visit to 
him, we proceeded to Stillwater and were 
granted an interview with the Youngers. They 
suggested that we again confer with Marshall, 
and we did so the next day. At this meeting 
that gentleman advised us to go, first, to Far- 
ibault, the county seat of Rice county, in 
which also Northfield, the scene of the raid 
and tragedy of 1876, is situated. Faribault 
is about fifty miles southwest of St. Paul 
and is the home of Judge Mott, a leading 
citizen and jurist, to whom we carried a letter 
of introduction from Gov. Marshall. 

Calling at his residence. Judge Mott met us 



[116] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

at the door and invited us in. He was a tall, 
slim man, with courtly manners and a benevo- 
lent countenance. Upon presentation, he 
opened and read our credentials and heartily 
shook hands with us the second time. We 
three Missourians felt that we had found an- 
other friend worthy of our confidence and ad- 
miration. 

"This letter," said the genial judge, when he 
had perused its contents, "reminds me of the 
fact that I haven't kept good faith with my 
wife." The speaker paused a moment, and 
Reagan, Rogers and I wondered what he 
meant by that rather irrelevant remark. 

Then Judge Mott continued : "During the 
three months of the Younger brothers' trial and 
imprisonment in the county jail at Faribault 
our people, strangely enough, became attached 
to them. The conduct of the prisoners was so 
excellent, their manners were so pleasant, and 
their intelligence so marked that they easily 
won over to themselves many persons who had 
been their bitter enemies and who had clam- 
ored for revenge. On returning home, after 
the Youngers had been convicted and life sen- 
tences had been passed upon them, my wife 
asked me the result of the trial. I told her, and 



[117] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

also added that it was my purpose to use my 
influence toward having them released. And 
now, to know that, after thirteen long years, 
I have not kept my promise." 

While in Faribault our party stopped at the 
Brunswick Hotel, and Judge Mott told us that 
he would arrange for twenty-five of the lead- 
ing citizens of his home town to call on us 
the following morning. They did so, and we 
left there that day with twenty-three letters 
recommending the pardon of the Youngers. 

Amongst these letters was the following, 
dated at Faribault, Minnesota, June 22, writ- 
ten by Judge Mott, and addressed to Gov. 
Marshall. 

"My wife reminded me last night of an in- 
cident I had forgotten, i. e., when I came home 
from court in 1876 and told her of the sen- 
tences of the Younger boys, I remarked, Tf 
they continue to behave for ten years as well 
as they have here in jail and during their ar- 
raignment and sentence, I pledge myself to 
join a movement for their release.' 

"I now trust that Gov. Merriam may see his 
way clear to send them all home rejoicing, to 
their friends, after these weary years to them. 
The clamor that their pardon might evoke 



[118] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

can only emanate from a spirit of revenge, un- 
worthy of our civilization. We have vindi- 
cated the power and majesty of the law, let us 
now manifest its mercy; for executive clem- 
ency, in all deserving and proper cases, is 
as much a part of the machinery of law as the 
indictment, the verdict of the jury, or the sen- 
tence of the court; and is it not the crowning 
glory of all to say, 'Go and sin no more?' 

"It does not seem that our Governor can 
hesitate to send poor Robert home at once, to 
die among his friends. If you think my opin- 
ion of any value, you are at liberty to show 
this letter to Gov. Merriam, who, I know, has 
nerve enough to stand the nine days' howl that 
might follow a pardon. 

''I have met with great pleasure Col. Rog- 
ers, Reagan and Bronaugh, from Kansas City 
— they are true gentlemen, every one." 



CHAPTER 12. 
Three Kinds of People. 

AFTER our visit to Faribault we de- 
cided to make a vigorous canvass, 
lasting three or four v^reeks, solic- 
iting letters in other parts of Min- 
nesota. Northfield was left severely alone, 
for w^e thought it useless to make any attempt 
in that quarter, though in after years senti- 
ment changed there considerably. 

In this canvass we had many experiences, 
both amusing and exasperating. Hundreds of 
citizens seemed to regard us as meddlesome 
intruders and fit subjects for a lunatic asy- 
lum, or a cell under the same roof with the 
"rough riders" of Stillwater. We did not re- 
sent this feeling. It was but natural. We un- 
derstood full well the unpopularity of our mis- 
sion, even though it were one of mercy. Min- 
nesota men and w^omen are but human. They 
had cause for grievance and revenge. The 
wrong that had been done them rankled deep 
in their hearts. It would have done the same 
in ours. However, we obtained, on this tour, 

[119] 



[120] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

a hundred and sixty-three letters favoring a 
pardon. 

In the course of our Minneapolis canvass, 
we called at the ofiBce of George A. Pillsbury, 
whose fame as a miller, a multimillionaire, and 
a philanthropist was national, to say the least. 
Upon entering we stated that we were upon 
a mission of mercy. Instantly and rather ab- 
ruptly Mr. Pillsbury remarked : "I have no 
money for you, but you can have anything else 
you desire." It was not uncommon for peo- 
ple to call on the great miller seeking financial 
aid for church and charitable enterprises, to 
which he usually gave with a liberal hand, and 
he. mistakenly sized us up as some delegation 
in search of money. He was reported to have 
given twenty thousand dollars annually to 
Baptist missions. We told him we had not 
come for money, but to secure, if possible, a 
letter of recommendation from him for the 
pardon of the Youngers. 

This was like touching a match to a keg of 
powder. Mr. Pillsbury flew into an uncon- 
trollable passion and paced the floor, hurling 
anathemas upon the Youngers and not even 
sparing their friends and sympathizers. 

'*^Ie write a letter to the Governor, asking 



[121] 
The, Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

him to pardon the Youngers !" he exclaimed. 
'/Why, I would head a mob to hang them ! 
They deserve it! Never, never, will I lend my 
aid to liberate them !" 

This intemperate talk was continued for sev- 
eral minutes and we Missourians felt badly 
embarrassed. 

The singular part of it was the fact that Col. 
Rogers had presented to Mr. Pillsbury a very 
polite note of introduction from a prominent 
Baptist minister in Kansas City, who had 
formerly been the millionaire's pastor. Pills- 
bury, himself, was a strict member and sup- 
porter of that denomination. 

At the first opportunity Col. Rogers re- 
minded Mr. Pillsbury of his ungenerous and 
extravagant utterances. How unreasonable, 
how un-Christianlike it was to harbor such re- 
vengeful feelings against even the humblest of 
God's creatures ! And then Col. Rogers, with 
wonderful adroitness, quoted from memory 
passage after passage of Scripture, showing 
the inconsistency of Mr. Pillsbury's attitude 
and sentiments as a brother Baptist. 

The famous millionaire was deeply aflfected. 
The shafts from the Missourian's Biblical ar- 
senal had pierced his armor. He did no-t 



[122] 
The Younger s" Fight for Freedom. 

wholly surrender, but was well-nigh con- 
quered. 

''Gentlemen," he said, "I beg your pardon, 
I was perhaps too hasty in my utterances, and 
I regret it. I will assure you that, while I 
can not consistently give you a letter recom- 
mending the pardon of the Youngers, I shall 
never again raise my voice to oppose it." 

From the Pillsbury office, Messrs. Rogers, 
Reagan, and myself proceeded to the resi- 
dence of Senator Washburn. He was one of 
the most famous men in Minnesota and had a 
national reputation as a leader in the Republi- 
can party. He was what is politically termed 
a "wheel-horse" or a "war-horse." 

At the moment we were ushered into the 
sitting-room of his elegant mansion by a maid- 
servant, the Senator was entertaining a party 
of friends to dinner. We could see them 
seated at a brilliant and sumptuous table in 
the dining-room, some considerable distance 
from ourselves. 

When the pompous old senator came into 
the room, where we were waiting, he coldly 
clasped hands with Col. Rogers, who, in as 
short a sentence as possible, made known the 
object of our visit. 



gt. 



[125] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

Washburn then caught him by the arm and 
stepped with him toward the front door, hardly 
deigning to notice Reagan and myself, who 
followed after. Reaching the door the old sen- 
ator said to us in a most insolent manner : 
"When you have business with me, call at my 
office. I don't receive men here on business." 
As Washburn turned to re-enter the door, Col. 
Rogers, a scarred veteran of bloody battles for 
the Union, and every inch a gentleman, re- 
sented the insult in language not to be forgot- 
ten by Washburn. 

"Senator," said Rogers, with withering 
scorn, "we pass better men than you on the 
streets of Kansas City every day and don't 
speak to them." 

T regret to make mention of this matter at 
all, and only do it to show how utterly boorish 
some people can be, though they occupy ex- 
alted position in public life and society. Had 
we been a party of outlaws ourselves, with 
knives and pistols strapped at our girdles, it 
is doubtful whether our reception by the in- 
sulting old vSenator could have been more dis- 
agreeable, not to say hostile. But I am happy 
in the assurance that all Minnesota people are 
not like him. 



[126] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

As I have stated above, our little party, in 
making this epistolary campaign, had a vari- 
ety of experiences, some of them of a pleasant 
nature, while others were embarrassing and 
humiliating. 

I shall never forget the cordial and generous 
manner in which one of Minnesota's greatest 
and most lamented men received and treated 
us, in striking contrast to the boorish, if not 
brutal, reception accorded us by Washburn. 
The gentleman to whom I refer was the late 
United States Senator Cushman K. Davis. 

As we approached his handsome residence 
we saw him sitting on his front porch, enjoy- 
ing a cigar. We were still somewhat flurried 
by our recent unhappy experience, especially 
with Washburn, and I must confess to our 
timidity and trepidation. 

Mr. Davis was one of the most distinguished 
men in the United States and a national fig- 
ure in Republican politics. We were utter 
strangers to him and had no idea of his senti- 
ments and views on the subject so dear to us. 
Our visit to him might turn out to be as un- 
welcome as it was to Washburn. However, 
it occurred to us that he could not very well 
overreach the rudeness of the old war-horse. 



[127] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

The moment Senator Davis espied us he 
came forward and met us at least half way 
down the walk leading from the porch. Upon 
making ourselves known to him, he cordially 
shook hands with us and invited us to seats 
under the trees, the weather being quite warm. 
Stepping into the house, he returned with a 
box of fine cigars, which he passed around. 
He then ordered a pitcher of delicious lemo- 
nade. All this was done in the most gracious 
manner possible and put us entirely at our 
ease. Mr. Davis suggested that his wife would 
be pleased to meet us, and she soon joined the 
party for a few minutes in the yard. She was 
most delightful in her manner and conversa- 
tion. 

But there was yet to come the trying mo- 
ment with Mr. Davis when we should make 
known to him our business. 

Much to our relief, however, when we had 
stated our mission to him he immediately re- 
plied that he had been giving the subject con- 
siderable thought and had arrived at the con- 
clusion that clemency should be extended to 
the Youngers. "I feel disposed, gentlemen," 
said he, ''to grant your request," and when a 
little later we bade him goodbye, we carried 



[128] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

away with us an autograph letter, couched in 
strong terms, recommending a pardon. 

When Senator Davis died but a compara- 
ively short time ago, Minnesota lost one of 
her grandest and noblest men, and one who 
was an honor to all Americans. He combined 
the gifts and qualities of a brilliant orator, stu- 
dent, and a broad-gauged statesman. He was 
true to every trust reposed in him, whether 
of small significance or large import. His mod- 
esty, simplicity, and sincerity were among his 
most charming traits of character. 

Green be the turf above the last resting place 
of Cushman Kellogg Davis. 



CHAPTER 13. 
Merriam's Refusal. 

With these additional documents we set out 
for a conference with Gov. William R. Mer- 
riam, to w^hom our letters and petitions were 
to be formally presented. The personnel of 
the party was as follows : 

Gov. William R. Marshall, ex-Warden A. J. 
Reed, who had had charge of the Youngers 
the first ten years of their incarceration ; ex- 
Sheriff Ira Barton, of Rice county; Col. F. E. 
Rogers and Capt. S. C. Reagan, of Kansas 
City, Missouri ; Mrs. L. W. Twyman, of Jack- 
son county, Missouri, an aunt of the boys ; 
their sister, Miss Retta Younger, and myself. 
This was rather an imposing array and there 
seemed to be some hope that gratifying results 
would be our reward. 

Gov. Merriam, with whom due appointment 
had been made, received us courteously and 
cordially at the executive mansion. Capt. Rea- 
gan, a cultured gentleman and fluent talker, 
was assigned to make the speech presenting 
the documents. Capt. Reagan was at his best 

[129] 



[130] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

and his effort was creditable alike to himself 
and to the occasion. Then the remaining mem- 
bers of the delegation spoke in rotation, Miss 
Younger being the last to make an appeal. 
There was nothing affected or theatrical in 
this. Every word welled up from the depths 
of her soul, her voice trembled with emotion 
and tears stood in her eyes. She appealed to 
the Governor, who sat in his chair, stolidly, 
but paying close attention, that if he could not 
see fit to pardon Cole and Jim, to grant re- 
lease to Bob, the youngest of all, whose life 
was already ebbing away on the swift tide of 
consumption. This plea was one of the most 
impressive I have ever heard, and it seemed 
that no soul could be so hard as to resist it. 

Our suspense was now of exceedingly short 
duration. Cool, calm, cold, and collected, the 
chief executive of the great commonwealth 
of Alinne^'Tta, with the power of liberty or con- 
finement — death or life at his command — arose 
and said : 

*T can not pardon these men. My duty to 
the state and my personal prejudice against 
them make it impossible." 

This emphatic decision of Gov. Merriam 
seemed to be a death-blow to the whole under- 



[131] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

taking. It dazed us. After such long years of 
labor and sacrifice the action of the chief ex- 
ecutive was almost overwhelmingly depress- 
ing. The pleading, the toil, and even the tears 
of friends, interceding for the prisoners, had 
availed naught. 

The deep-seated prejudice of one man, 
armed with autocratic power at this supreme 
moment, had cruelly dashed to pieces our 
fondest hopes and expectations. In the midst 
of it all, however, I still determined to keep 
up the fight. 

In the year 1884 I had made promise and 
pledge that I would be faithful and unfaltering 
as long as there was a single ray of hope — as 
long as there was left one avenue by which to 
reach the conscience of the authorities and peo- 
ple of Minnesota. 

Messrs. Rogers and Reagan — brave, true 
m.en, who had had many a hard lesson in the 
school of disappointment — came to the con- 
clusion that further effort would be futile. 

"What do you propose to do now?" said 
they to me. 

"Well, gentlemen," I replied, 'T propose to 
stay here and try to obtain a pardon for Bob, 
at least." 



[132] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

My friends, Rogers and Reagan, returned 
at once to their homes in Kansas City, while 
I still held the fort in the far north. 

A few days later I received a telegram from 
Col. Rogers, at Kansas City, requesting me to 
meet Maj. William Warner at the West Hotel, 
in Minneapolis, at 10 o'clock the next morning. 
In company with Governor Marshall and ex- 
Warden Reed I did so. After a conference 
with Warner it was decided that he should get 
Judge Ray, of Minneapolis, whom he had suc- 
ceeded as Commander-in-Chief of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, to call on Gov. Mer- 
riam. Both Warner and Ray did this and 
made most eloquent appeals for pardon of the 
Youngers, but these touching appeals were 
made all in vain. Merriam could not be 
moved. 



CHAPTER 14. 
Tn the Hospital at Stillwater. 

IT WAS now determined to seek the re- 
lease of Bob Younger. There was an 
opinion prevalent in Minnesota that his 
illness Avas only feigned — that it was a 
cunning dodge to enlist public sympathy in 
order to get him out of prison. After events 
proved how cruelly unfounded was this sus- 
picion. 

At this time Gov. Marshall notified me to 
meet him at the Union Station in St. Paul, 
when he said we would proceed to Northfield 
to see Col. Phillips, president of the bank, 
which in 1876, had been raided by the Mis- 
souri bandits. Marshall, however, reconsid- 
ered this proposition and went there alone, 
leaving'me in St. Paul. 

At Northfield he and Col. Phillips had a pri- 
vate conference, in reference to the pardon, 
which lasted until after midnight. Phillips 
still doubted that Bob was really ill. He, like 
many other persons, feared he was being im- 
posed upon. But the bank president, evidently 
[135] 



[136] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

wishing to deal^with the matter fairly and in 
a careful, business-like manner, submitted a 
proposition to engage a reputable physician — 
to be chosen by himself — send him to Still- 
water, and there have him make a thorough 
ph3^sical examination of Bob. Should he con- 
cur with the prison physician, and this exam- 
ination result in clearing away all doubt as 
to the patient's true condition ; and also show 
conclusively that he was actually near unto 
death, he would then at once and cheerfully 
give a letter recommending pardon. 

Gov. Marshall, personally knowing the facts 
in the case, and having implicit confidence in 
Col. Phillips, integrity of purpose, readily ac- 
cepted the proposal. 

Doctor Ogden, a young surgeon and physic- 
ian, though reared in Northfield, now resided 
in St. Paul and had a fine reputation profes- 
sionally and as a citizen. He was selected 
as the medical examiner by Phillips. 

In company with Marshall I called on Dr. 
Ogden at his ofiice in Wabesha street, and was 
at once favorai3ly impressed with him. He ac- 
cepted the proposition placed before him and 
said he would be pleased to act in the capac- 
ity desired. 



[137] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

Upon the arrival of Dr. Ogden and myself 
at Stillwater, Dr. Pratt, the prison physician, 
arranged a meeting with Ogden at the peni- 
tentiary hospital. The two physicians made an 
exceedingly careful and minute examination 
of the 3'oung convict. At its conclusion I sent 
a telegram to Col. Phillips, announcing the re- 
sult of the diagnosis, which was, that Bob 
was fatally ill and had but a short time to live. 
The final summons might come at any mo- 
ment, and yet he might linger several weeks. 
Under the most favorable conditions, however, 
his life could not possibly be prolonged beyond 
sixty or seventy days. Dr. Ogden urged that 
he be pardoned in order that he might have 
his wish gratified not to die within the prison 
Avails. 

In addition to this recommendation. Dr. Og- 
den, whose interest in the matter had become 
much heightened, wrote a letter to Phillips, 
recommending a pardon for Cole and Jim. 

Two weeks later, in July, 1889, Marshall and 
I presented additional letters to Gov. Merri- 
am. To our surprise we found that his atti- 
tude had not changed, unless it was that his 
determination not to grant my request had be- 
come more firmly settled. 



[138] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

Turning to us, Merriam declared with an 
emphasis that could not be misunderstood: "I 
would not pardon the Youngers, even if Mrs. 
Heywood should come to life again and make 
the request." 

The widow of the murdered Northfield bank 
cashier, it should be stated, had remarried a 
year or so after her husband's tragic death, and 
had died some years later. 

What next should be done? Merriam was 
as merciless as an avenging Nemesis. Every 
resource at our command had been exhausted 
to mollify him. 

Just then the idea of a last resort occurred 
to me. With all the earnestness I could muster 
and in absolute good faith, there in the pres- 
ence of the Governor, I offered myself as a 
hostage for thirty days, to occupy Cole Young- 
er's cell in the state prison, if the Youngers 
might be given a leave of absence for that 
length of time to visit their old home in Jack- 
son county, Missouri. 

As a matter of fact I did not relish the idea 
of spending even a few hours behind the bars 
at Stillwater, but I had reached a point of des- 
peration and was ready and willing to make 
even an unreasonable sacrifice for the sake of 
the freedom of my unfortunate friends. 



[139] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

I also volunteered to raise a solvent bond of 
one hundred thousand dollars, or even a mil- 
lion dollars, as a guarantee of their good citi- 
zenship in the future, if they should be pardon- 
ed. I insisted that the boys would go further 
now to protect a bank than they did in 1876 
to rob one. 

To more heavily reinforce these propositions 
of mine the noble Gov. Marshall, on this same 
occasion, offered himself as a hostage. But 
these offers were rejected. 



CHAPTER 15. 
The Messenger of Death. 

IN 1888 William R. Merriam was elected 
Governor of Minnesota by a majority of 
18,000'. After having served two years, 
he was renominated by the Republicans 
in 1890 for a second term. The Democrats 
nominated Mr. Wilson as his opponent in the 
race. Merriam, for various reasons, seemed to 
have become unpopular, and there was a tol- 
erably fair prospect that Wilson would win. 
He did make a gallant campaign and was de- 
feated at the polls in November by the small 
margin of about six hundred votes. The 
Younger agitation, however, had little, if in- 
deed, anything to do with the result, though 
at other times it cut a figure in local political 
affairs. 

Poor Bob Younger! The time soon came 
when no more appeals to Merriam or any other 
earthly power would be needed in his behalf. 
His friends had made a strenuous fight for his 
release, but their entreaties were all in vain. 
One day, in his dark prison, he heard the sum- 

[140] 



[141] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

mons of the pitying angel, calling him into the 
green pastures and beside the still waters of 
eternal peace and rest and his emancipated 
spirit took its heavenward flight. 

Bob Younger died in the hospital depart- (^ 
ment of the Stillwater penitentiary Monday 
evening, September 16, 1889. Had he lived 
until the twenty-ninth of the following month, 
he would have been thirty-four years old. His 
death had been expected for a number of 
weeks, and yet w^hen the end did come it prov- 
ed no less a shock to the loving sister and de- 
voted brothers than his numerous friends. 
Monday afternoon he told his brothers that the 
end was near and desired them to remain with 
him. At nine o'clock Deputy Westby entered 
the hospital and Bob asked him to remain. As 
death approached, Bob whispered a few words 
occasionally or turned his eyes with aflfection 
unspeakable upon the dear sister, and the last 
words he spoke embodied a request that they 
would not weep for him. No words can fitly 
describe the faithful devotion or the tireless at- 
tention of the brothers. The latter had been 
excused from the regular duties for the last 
few days, and by 'day and night they had 
watched at the bedside of their dying brother. 



[142] 
The Yonngers' Fight for Freedom. 

The remains were taken to undertaking 
rooms and embalmed and placed in a plain, 
rich casket, bearing a silver plate with the in- 
scription, "At Rest." The chapel was draped 
in mourning-, and the funeral services were 
conducted by Chaplain J. H. Albert. Appropri- 
ate music was rendered and at the close of the 
services, the inmates were given the privilege 
of viewing the body. Many an eye grew dim 
as it looked for the last time upon the well- 
known features, grown so wan and pale, and 
many an honest heart beat faster under the 
striped jackets in earnest, sincere sympathy 
with the bereaved relatives. The pallbearers 
were selected from among the oldest of Bob's 
friends, and with one exception were life mem- 
bers. Very reverently and lovingly did they 
fulfill this last sad office. Mr. Albert read the 
fourteenth chapter of St. John — those beau; 
tiful words of comfort spoken by our Saviour 
which have brought peace to so many troubled 
hearts. The chaplain's remarks were brief and 
dealt mainly with Bob's life and character as 
known by all with whom he had come in con- 
tact during the thirteen years of his imprison- 
ment. Mr. Albert said in part : 

"There are many things upon which we dif- 




MAJOR JOHN N. EDWARDS, 
Author of the Younger Petition. 



[145] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

fer and there are also many other things upon 
which we agree. A little reflection will show 
that in the main we agree as to the fundamen- 
tal principle of life and death. I look upon 
your faces this afternoon and see many char- 
acteristics in common and yet also many dif- 
ferences. But there is one thing upon which 
we all unite and that is death. We know that 
we cannot live forever, and the time will come 
when a few words will be said over our dead 
bodies and we will be laid away. Knowing 
then that we all must die, how much ought we 
to consider it. Yet how many go on day after 
day, paying no attention to it. This is the 
height of folly. But on the other hand, it is 
the worst kind of cowardice to live in the con- 
stant fear of death. The real way is this : We 
should recognize it as a fact and keep the fact 
in sight that death is the end of life. We 
should view it like the man does who is going 
to emigrate to a far country. He gets his 
goods in order, settles all property questions, 
and prepares himself in every possible way for 
his journey and new home. And this is what 
we should do. We should get together what 
we will need in another world. When we are 
called to look down upon the cold remains of 



[146] • 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

a loving brother, then are we better fitted to 
receive these things. Unconsciously we call 
to our minds the traits of character of the de- 
parted one that we Avould like to keep alive. 
What was it in his life that was best, that we 
admired most? As I look at this inanimate 
clay I can recall many characteristics which 
we would like to possess. I will take the lib- 
erty to name one or two of them. One of them 
is this : A firmness of purpose or will. This 
was very noticeable in his last bitter struggle 
with death. Everything tended to discourage 
him and yet his firm will rose above it all and 
no one ever heard him make complaint. An- 
other characteristic was a strict regard for 
the truth ; and again, his honesty both as re- 
garded his duties, and also in regard to other 
people. He was never heard to slander any 
one or speak ill of them. If there was any- 
thing he abhorred, it was a hypocrite, and no 
inmate ever stood higher in the opinion of the 
ofiicers than he. He had their entire confi- 
dence. This is worthy of our remembrance. 
When we, too, come to pass away, we should 
like for this to be said of us. His reading and 
thoughts were always of a purer, higher kind. 
Several times I have gone past his cell and 



[147] 
Tlie Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

found him writing, and upon questioning him 
I would find that it was to little nephews and 
of an advisory nature. I will speak also of re- 
lig'ion. Bob never spoke to me of it, but if 
you ask my opinion, I would say that, though 
he never openly professed religion or joined 
the church, yet I can say from an experience of 
over two years that he had the fundamental 
truths of religion firmly implanted in his heart. 
His whole life here and his recognized purity 
of conversation go to prove it. There are 
many other characteristics which I could 
speak of, but I must pass on." 

Mr, Albert then addressed a few words of 
comfort directly to Miss Retta Younger and 
her brothers. Cole and Jim, and closed by 
reading the beautiful twenty-third Psalm. 

The Rev. Thomas M. Cobb, now presiding 
elder of the Lexington, IMissouri, district of 
the Southwest Missouri Conference, served 
most gallantly throughout the Civil War as 
a member of the famous Confederate brigade 
commanded by Gen. F. M. Cockrell, now on 
the Interstate Commerce Commission. At the 
close of the war Mr. Cobb entered the ministry 
and has attained distinction in that calling. 
His son, Thomas M. Cobb, Jr., a brilliant 



[148] 
The Young ers' Fight for Freedom. 

young man, died of smallpox while serving in 
the Philippines. His body was cremated and 
the ashes sent home. 

Thos. M. Cobb took great interest in Bob 
Younger's spiritual welfare and addressed to 
him from Lexington, Missouri, the following 
letter, in August, 1889 : 

"My dear sir : — Although a total stranger to 
you, I venture to write you a friendly letter. 
I am informed that you are hopelessly ill, that 
there is no possible chance for your recovery. 
In this sad hour, I beg to assure you of my 
personal sympathy and prayers. Your broth- 
ers know of me and can tell you something of 
my past life and present occupation. I was a 
Confederate soldier for four years, fought and 
suffered for the same cause that they did. I 
am now a Methodist minister and have been 
since the close of the Civil War. Earnestly 
desiring the salvation of all men, I feel a spec- 
ial concern for those who fought for the same 
cause that I did. As I see it, there is no hope 
for your pardon, so you must die in prison. I 
dare not apologize for nor in any way palliate, 
the crimes of which you are guilty. The deeds 
have been done and there is no way of undoing 
them. But God is merciful and always willing 



[149] 
The Youngers" Fight for Freedom. 

to forgive and save. Although you are a con- 
demned criminal and must die in prison, the 
blessed Savior is near and is ever willing to 
grant you pardon and peace. He was indeed 
the friend of publicans and sinners, received 
them, talked with them and saved them. Even 
the thief on the cross was not beyond His mer- 
cy. In the last hour He took away his sin and 
received him into Paradise. He is the same 
yesterday, today, and forever. I beg you to 
look to Him, make a full and honest confes- 
sion of your sins, and cast yourself upon His 
mercy. Bless His holy name. He will not turn 
you away, for He is both able and willing to 
save to the utmost all who come to Him. 

"And now, my dear sir, I beg to assure you 
that I am your friend and brother and that I 
shall pray daily and earnestly for your salva- 
tion. Don't lay this aside without thought, 
but begin at once to make peace with God and 
get ready for that event which must surely 
come. 

"Give my kindest regards to your loving 
sister and to your brothers, Cole and Jim. 

"May God in his mercy deal tenderly with 
you all." 



CHAPTER 16. 
Hal Raid's Tribute. 

Mr. Hal Reid, the well-known playwright 
and actor, was a warm personal friend of the 
Younger brothers and visited Bob on his 
deathbed. Shortly afterward he wrote the fol- 
lowing sketch of the last scene, which may 
justly be considered a classic if its kind: 

"Hello, Bob ;" 

"How-dye?" 

"First-rate; how are you coming on, Bob?" 

"Badly, I'm not feeHng well at all. I guess 
I'll finish my sentence before long." 

"Oh, don't talk that way, Bob. You are all 
right. Some Governor will come along one of 
these days and think you boys have suffered 
long enough and pardon you sure." 

" 'Hope deferred' — you know the rest ; be- 
sides you remember what McGill, when he was 
Governor, told Cole?" 

"Yes, I do. He said in the presence of De- 
puty Westby and you and me, that you boys 
had suffered long enough and he ought to turn 
you out." 

[150] 



[151] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

"Well, you see how they have done it." 

"That's no criterion. Bob, McGill was a 
poor little 'fice' of a political error, with a 
string for a backbone and has sunk into well- 
deserved obscurity. Sometime a governor of 
nerve will come along and do what he thinks 
is right." 

"If it ever does happen, it must be soon or 
it w^ill do me no good. Well, I must get on 
to the steward's office ; good-bye." 

"Good-bye, Bob." 

Then down the long, stone-floored, iron- 
walled corridor of Stillwater Prison Bob 
Younger slowly and painfully walked until 
the clank of the iron door hid him from my 
view for the last time in life. 

Accompanied by Deputy Warden Westby, 
I then went to the little corner of the west 
corridor, cut ofif by a railing, to make a place 
for Jim Younger to run the postoffice. 

Jim was there, tilted back in a chair, softly 
picking a guitar, which, as we approached, he 
laid aside, and rising, offered us seats. 

"How-dye, Jim," said I, extending my hand. 

"Very well, Hal. How have you been?" 

"Oh, all O. K. Say, Jim, did Harrison give 
you your commission as postmaster?" 



[152] 
llie Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

"No, I am a Democrat and I wanted to re- 
sign, and go home to Missouri when we got a 
RepubHcan President, but the deputy here 
won't accept my resignation, so I guess I'll 
have to stay." 

"That's so, Jim, we can't get along without 
you now, but if I was Governor I would send 
you boys home before to-morrow night." 

"Say, Deputy, how is Bob, honest now, how 
is he ? He comes around here by your permis- 
sion and makes a great out at joking and such, 
but I'm sure it's all put on to make me feel 
good." 

"He is some better, Jim, but he is not strong, 
you know." 

"Deputy, do you think Bob'll die?" 

Jim Younger's voice trembled, his strong 
frame shook, and the look in his eyes was one 
of pain — of heart pain — of agony. 

"Frank Hall, the steward of the hospital, is 
doing all he can, Jim, and so is Dr. Pratt. 
We'll try to pull him through," evasively ans- 
wered the deputy, and as Jim turned away, a 
tear spashed on the letters lying on his little 
desk. 

We went on to the library and there sat 
Cole, his kindly face sad and worn. He took 




WILLIAM R. MARSHALL, 
Former Governor of Minnesota. 



[155] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

my hand and his first question was : **Have 
you seen Bob?" 

"Yes, Cole." 

"What do you think?" 

"He's not well, Cole." 

"I know that, but do you think he will die?" 

His face worked convulsively, his hands 
trembled, and his fingers picked nervously at 
each other. I had not the heart to answer, and 
he continued : 

"You see, Bob's the youngest, and Jim and 
I remember when he used to play around with 
gourds and the like o' that, and we've all been 
here together so long that I — that Jim" — here 
his voice broke down and he turned away. 
Presently he said: 

"I wish I could go instead, I am the oldest. 
Bob might live until some governor would let 
him go home. I am an old man and won't live 
very long anyway." 

I wish to say right here that I am not aim- 
ing to make any excuse for the Youngers — 
none at all — and I knew them too many weary 
hours and too well to make heroes of them. 
I know, too, that they had cause — good cause 
— to do some of what they did so, and that 
their sixteen long years in prison has made 



[156] 
The Youngcrs' Fight for Freedom. 

them broken down, repentent men, and that 
sixteen years behind prison walls will pay any 
man's debt to God or man. I would not want 
better neighbors than Cole or Jim Younger, 
or a better friend than either would now make. 
One night on the stage, while playing in my 
piece of La Belle Marie, I had to use during 
the action of the play a newspaper, and the 
property man had placed one on the desk used 
in the office scene of the second act. My eye 
fell upon the headline : 

"BOB YOUNGER DEAD." 

I stopped short. The lines I was speaking 
died upon my lips, and my thoughts flew to the 
cold stones, the iron bars, and the agonies of 
Stillwater. Little did the audience know why 
the "villain^' so suddenly ended his tirade. 

I was brought to action by hearing my line 
thrown from the prompt entrance, and the 
play proceeded. 

Later on I investigated Bob's last hours, and 
I give the story as told by an eye-witness : 

Bob lay in the hospital, wasted to a mere 
shadow. All day long he had talked of birds 
and flowers and the grass and brooks and free- 



[157] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

dom. Along toward evening he roused up and 
said to Frank Hall : 

"Doctor, raise me up ; let me see the grass 
and the trees out yonder. You don't know how 
I have stood holding on to the iron bars, and 
longed to be out on the hill there to lie on the 
grass, to lie in the clover, and just to know for 
a moment or two that I was in the free air. 
Why, doctor, I'd a gone out there and I'd a 
come back, just to the minute. You can be- 
lieve a dying man. I'd a come back." 

"Yes, Bob, I know, and I wanted to let you 
go, and we went to the warden, but he didn't 
dare do it; the newspapers would have cut us 
up about it; they don't know how ill you are. 
We couldn't do it." 

Just then Cole came in, and without a word 
sank beside the iron cot, and shook with sobs. 

"Don't do that, Cole ! Don't do that ! You see 
I'll be better off. I'll be free anyway. Thank 
God, they can't lock a man's soul up. They 
can't hold that with lock and key." 

Just then a robin flew on the stone casing 
and plumed himself and sang, 

"Cole, do you hear that?" 

"What, Bob ?" 

"That bird ; do you remember the mocking- 
birds in Missouri? Don't you, Cole?" 



[158] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

"Yes, Bob." 

"Well, that bird brought mother back to me. 
I could see her going to the well, and the birds 
on the trees and feeding around the door. 

"W'here's Deputy Westby? I want him." 

The deputy was sent for and came. 

"Well, Bob, how are you?" 

"I'm at the end of my sentence. Deputy. In 
a few minutes I'll be pardoned out, and some 
way or other, Deputy, I think my soul will 
rest a while over yonder on that hill, the one 
we can see from the window. It has longed so 
to be there that I think — I think — Jim — 
where's Jim?" 

"Here, Bob, right here, brother." 

"Cole — Jim — Deputy — Deputy, you've 
been good to us all, and to me, and I thank you ; 
you're a kind good man, all the boys like you, 
and — and God bless you." 

Here Bob Younger raised the deputy's hand 
and kissed it. 

"Don't think Fm foolish. Deputy, you — are 
— good — very — good." 

Slowly, more laboriously, came the dying 
man's breath. He raised up slightly and said: 

"Cole, bring me a drink. Wait, I want to 
whisper to you." 



[159] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

Cole bent his head and as their tears ming- 
led Bob whispered some name. 

"Tell her," he said aloud, "tell her I died 
thinking of her." 

A moment more, a long sigh, and then, 
death. 

A convict no more, angel or devil, which? 
Who shall dare say? Who shall say that his 
repentance was not accepted? Who shall say 
that Christ's atoning blood had not washed 
him "white as snow?" 



CHAPTER 17. 
A Change of Administration. 

In 1890 Miss Retta Younger arrived at my 
home from Stillwater, conveyincr a message 
from her brothers, Cole and Jim, for me to 
come to Minnesota at once. About the same 
time I received a letter from Gov. Marshall, 
making the same request. I immediately took 
the train for St. Paul, a distance of five hun- 
dred miles, and conferred with both Republi- 
cans and Democrats — friends of the Young- 
ers — as to the pardon proposition. This was 
previous to Merriam's second election. When 
it became known that he was to serve two 
years longer, all thought of pushing our un- 
dertaking, in which he should have anything 
to do, was abandoned. In fact, he had stated 
to us in a previous conference that it was need- 
less expense and waste of time on our part to 
trouble him further. 

At the expiration of Merriam's second term. 
Governor Lind succeeded him and served one 
term. I did not look for anything from Lind. 
It was generally conceded that he had no sym- 
pathy with this liberation scheme. But while 

• [160] 



[161] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

he was let severely alone I was allowing no 
grass to grow under my feet. 

Not to mention the unselfish and hearty en- 
couragement I had already received from my 
friends in this state, I was gratified and made 
hopeful by the self-sacrificing and sincere spir- 
it shown by so many of the citizens of Minne- 
sota. Save for the helping hand extended me 
by these people, all my efforts would have been 
vanity of vanities and this, one of the most 
cherished ambitious enterprises of my career, 
would have been numbered with the lonsf list 
of life's failures. 

In 1894 the Honorable Knute Nelson was 
elected Governor to succeed Lind, and was in- 
augurated in 1895. After a brief service as 
chief executive. Nelson was elected to the 
United States Senate and Lieutenant-Govern- 
or D. M. Clough, became Governor. 

The following year I again circulated the 
Edwards' Petition at the General Assembly of 
Missouri, in behalf of the Youngers, and was 
happy in securing to it the signatures of near- 
ly every member of that body. Besides all 
these, I had received hundreds more of letters 
from influential men in various parts of the 
country, all of which were addressed to Gov. 
D. ^1. Clough. 



[162] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

Maj. William Warner, the then United 
States Attorney for the Western District of 
Missouri ; famous throughout the country as 
an orator and as a veteran of the Civil War, 
and former Commander-in-Chief of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, furnished the following 
letter: 

"Learning that an application will be made 
to you in the near future for the pardon of 
Cole Younger and James Younger, now in the 
penitentiary of your state, I write you this let- 
ter. 

"Without questioning the justice of the sen- 
tence or palliating in the least the crime for 
which these parties were sent to the peniten- 
tiary, I am convinced that the nineteen years 
they have served, taking into consideration 
their uniform good behavior, that it would be 
a proper use of the executive clemency should 
the pardon now be granted. They were young 
men during the war, and their acts after its 
close may be largely attributable to the occur- 
rences during the Civil War. A pardon grant- 
ed them would, as I believe, meet the approval 
of our citizens." 

Honorable Webster Davis, of Kansas City, 
noted as an orator and lecturer, as the author 




FORMER GOVERNOR THOS. T. CRITTENDEN. 



[165] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

of a successful volume on the Boer War, and 
as Assistant Secretary of the Interior, under 
President McKinley, sent this strong endorse- 
ment : 

"As chief executive of Kansas City, Missou- 
ri, I write you to request that you pardon Cole- 
man and James Younger from the Minnesota 
state penitentiary. They have been confined 
there for some nineteen years and have, I un- 
derstand, conducted themselves well as prison- 
ers. They have many friends and acquaint- 
ances in the State of Missouri who are anxious 
to see them pardoned ; believing that they have 
been punished sufficiently. These friends are, 
also, good, law-abiding citizens of the State 
of Missouri, and they feel that, should you 
pardon them, they would conduct themselves 
in the future as lawabiding citizens. I hope 
that you will grant the request. I am satisfied 
that you would not regret it in the future." 

Honorable David DeArmond, one of the 
most distinguished members from Missouri, 
wrote : 

'T join with many others in respectfully pe- 
titioning you to pardon Coleman and James 
Younger, now confined in the penitentiary of 
your state. 



[166] 
The Yonngers' Fight for Freedom. 

"I know personally that very many most ex- 
cellent people — upright, moral, Christian cit- 
izens of this state — earnestly hope that exe- 
cutive clemency may be extended to these 
prisoners under life sentence. 

*'They believe and I believe that if released, 
the Youngers will lead lives of peace and good 
order, and that society can not gain by their 
longer continued confinement, and will not suf- 
fer, in the least particular, from their speedy 
discharge. 

"The Youngers are most respectably con- 
nected, and many earnest pleas addressed to 
you for their pardon come from men as law- 
abiding and worthy as are to be found in the 
United States. 

*T sincerely hope you may find it consistent 
with your sense of duty to exercise the par- 
doning power in favor of these men who have 
been so long imprisoned, and I assure you that 
the act of mercy will win the lasting gratitude 
of thousands who are always on the side of 
law and order." 

Honorable Charles G. Burton, of Nevada, 
Missouri, a prominent Republican and ex- 
member of congress from the Fifteenth dis- 
trict, wrote in strong terms as follows: 



[167] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

"I have been asked to join with others in 
soliciting the pardon of Coleman and James 
Younger, now confined in the penitentiary of 
your state. I do so without hesitation. In 
asking the exercise of executive clemency, I 
attempt no excuse or palliation for the crime 
committed. There was no excuse, neither were 
there any palliating circumstances. If the 
death penalty had been inflicted immediately 
following the conviction, no one could have 
denied its justness. But in accordance with 
the wisdom of your civilization, as made man- 
fest in your law, they were incarcerated in the 
penitentiary. The object of the punishment 
inflicted was to reform the convicted if possi- 
ble, and to strike terror to all who might be 
inclined to follow in their footsteps. 

"Both of these purposes have been accom- 
plished in a great measure. The continued im- 
prisonment of these men can result in no good 
to them nor be of any benefit to the state. Im- 
pressed with the belief that, if pardoned, they 
will devote the remainder of their lives to 
their own and the betterment of their fellow- 
men, I unite with others, citizens of this state, 
in asking your pardon of them." 

Hon. Lon V. Stephens, then State Treasurer 



[168] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

of Missouri, and later Governor, gave me the 
following letter : 

''I have felt the pulse of the people of Mis- 
souri, during the last five years, on the subject 
of the pardon of the Younger brothers, who 
are now confined in the Minnesota state prison. 
I have talked with several hundred people on 
this subject, Republicans as well as Democrats, 
and the sentiment is unanimous in favor of 
this pardon. If you can see your way clear to 
issue it, it will be an act that humanity will 
endorse and which will be appreciated by the 
good people of this state. Hon. W. C. Bron- 
augh, who has taken an interest in this matter, 
is one of the most prominent citizens of this 
state. There is no honor that he might wish at 
the hands of our people, he could not get. He 
has for years devoted his time and means to- 
ward the pardon of the Younger brothers. I 
commend him to your confidence and es- 
teem." 

Among these letters, bearing date in this 
year, was one from Hon. S. B. Elkins, now 
United States Senator from West Virginia. 
Though a Republican partisan of unmistakable 
type, Senator Elkins took hearty interest in 
my movement for the release of jthe Youngers, 
because of an incident which occurred during 



[169] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

the Civil War, in which his Hfe was saved by 
Cole Younger. 

Sometime in October, 1862, Quantrell and 
his band were in camp near Big Creek, in Cass 
county, Missouri, where they held under ar- 
rest, as a spy, Steve Elkins, a young Missouri 
school teacher. The fate of the prisoner was 
apparently sealed, for he was intensely hated 
by several of the more bloodthirsty guerillas. 

Cole Younger, with a squad of men, two 
miles away, heard that Elkins was under ar- 
rest and at once galloped over to Quantrell and 
interceded for the prisoner, who had been his 
friend and schoolteacher before the war. 

The guerilla chieftain listened patiently to 
Younger's statement and announced that he 
would release Elkins. The latter was placed 
in charge of Cole, who escorted him quite a 
distance from the camp and directed him 
which way to make his escape, toward either 
Harrisonville or Kansas City. 

Elkins never forgot the kindly deed, and his 
rescue from what would have been certain 
death, and after Cole's pardon was granted the 
senator sent to his benefactor a check for one 
hundred dollars. April 3, 1896, Senator Elkins 
addressed me the following note from Wash- 
ington, D. C. : 



[170] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

"You must pardon me for not replying soon- 
er to your letter of March 5th, but I have been 
so very busy that I had not time to give it 
proper attention. 

"Complying with your request, I enclose 
herewith a letter, addressed to Gov. Clough, 
which may be of service to you." 

The following is the letter : 

"I learn that there is an effort being made 
to secure the pardon of the Younger boys, un- 
der life sentence for murder in your state pen- 
itentiary. 

"I knew these boys when they were children 
in Missouri before the war. They come of a 
good family. I knew their father and mother 
and they were good people, and these boys 
gave promise of making good men. 

"During the war I think Cole Younger sav- 
ed my life, and of course I feel kindly towards 
him and his brother. On this account I take 
the liberty of addressing you in their behalf. 
If you can see your way clear, under all the 
circumstances, to grant them executive clem- 
ency, it would greatly oblige me." 



CHAPTER 18. 
In the Presence of the Governor. 

IN October, 1896, accompanied by H. A. 
Jones, a lawyer of Pleasant Hill, Mis- 
souri, and nephew of the Youngers, I 
again set out for St. Paul. Thence Mr. Jones 
and I went to Stillwater and had a conference 
with Warden Wolfer, and Cole and Jim 
Younger. 

A few days thereafter, State Senator James 
O'Brien, State Auditor R. C. Dunn, Warden 
Wolfer, H. A. Jones and myself called on Gov. 
Clough at St. Paul, with this petition and 
these letters. Clough was a man of decided 
ability and well-deserved popularity. The del- 
egation chosen to wait upon him was a strong 
one. The Minnesota members of it were quite 
as heartily in favor of the movements as were 
Mr. Jones and myself, and we were all hopeful 
of attaining the much-coveted end. 

The Governor received us with great suav- 
ity in his private office and listened patiently 
and attentively to the speeches made in be- 
half of the prisoners. Messrs. Dunn, Wolfer, 

[171] 



[172] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

and O'Brien were the spokesmen, and I can 
truthfully say their efforts were eloquent. 
Every legitimate argument favoring a pardon 
was advanced. Warden Wolfer especially dis- 
tinguished himself. His plea would have been 
creditable to any advocate at the bar. 
Throughout it was lucid, strong and logical. 

This meeting was not devoid of dramatic 
features, especially at the close of the speech- 
es, when the verdict was to be decided upon 
by one man — Gov. Clough. 

The delegation remained seated in his office. 
The Governor arose from his chair and began 
walking up and down the floor. His hands 
were clasped behind him and his head was bent 
forward. Not a word escaped his lips. He 
looked like some tragedian treading the 
b'oards. And, indeed, he was an actor then 
and there in a scene surpassing many which 
are witnessed on the mimic stage. His solil- 
oquy was not Hamlet's — ''To be or not to be" 
— but his own — "To do or not to do." 

The long suspense was painful to all in the 
room. Finally, Auditor Dunn could keep si- 
lence no longer. 

"Dave Clough," he exclaimed, "sit down 
there and write that pardon out for the Young- 




COL. S. C. REAGAN, 
Of Kansas City. 



[175] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

ers ! There will be only a nine days* howl over 
it by a lot of sore-heads and politicians. You 
know I have been an outspoken advocate and 
champion of the Youngers and everybody in 
Minnesota knows how I stood and still stand. 
I have been elected Auditor three times and 
you know that at the last election I ran two 
thousand votes ahead of you." 

This was apparently a clincher. None of us 
thought the Governor could withstand it, but 
would surely yield. He heard every word ut- 
tered by his friend, Dunn, in whose sincerity 
and honesty he placed absolute confidence. 
The Governor was in a quandary. His desire 
was certainly to do what was best — what was 
right. 

He walked and wavered and walked, revolv- 
ing the great question in his mind. Personally 
he had much at stake, and then there were the 
people of Minnesota. He must not violate the 
trust and confidence they had placed in him 
by an unwise act of his own. 

At length Gov. Clough found a refuge, and 
it must be acknowledged, a reasonable one, 
however disappointing it may have been to his 
petitioners. It lay in the fact that an amend- 
ment to the state constitution, creating a 



[176] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

Board of Pardons, had been favorably voted 
on at the general election of 1896, and the 
Governor, in debating the momentous ques- 
tion placed before him, finally arrived at the 
conclusion that it should be left to this board. 
This decision he firmly, but very considerate- 
ly, announced to the delegation. He declined 
to put his signature to the petition for a par- 
don. 

No one of our party questioned at that time 
Gov. Clough's sympathy. At heart he un- 
doubtedly desired to favor us, but at the last 
moment he made up his mind otherwise. 

Turning to us, he said : "Go home to Mis- 
souri, get another petition and have it address- 
ed to the pardoning board." 

Messrs. Wolfer and O'Brien suggested to 
me that I secure as many letters as possible, 
favoring official clemency, and have them 
ready to be seen by the board at the proper 
time. 

Upon my return home I entered with re- 
newed energy upon the task of soliciting let- 
ters in Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and 
Washington, D. C. In this my success was 
gratifying and went beyond my fondest ex- 
pectations. Men in various walks of life re- 



[177] ■ 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

sponded promptly and cheerfully. Veterans 
who had worn the blue mingled with those 
who had worn the gray in lending me assis- 
tance in what they considered a laudable en- 
terprise. "One touch of nature makes the 
whole world kin," and it may also be said that 
one stroke upon the chord of sympathy will 
vibrate in human hearts, though seas and 
mountains stand between. 



CHAPTER 19. 
A Memorable Year. 

THE year 1897 is deeply engraved on 
my memory, for it was during that 
period that a supreme effort to se- 
cure clemency to Cole and Jim Younger was 
to be made. Their brother Bob, had long 
since passed away from all earthly pain and 
prison. He had paid not only the debts of 
transgression to the state but the debt of na- 
ture, which falls alike to all things mortal. 

A vast store of letters, and a powerful peti- 
tion had been gathered for use in this cam- 
paign. If legitimate influence were ever to ac- 
complish anything, now was the accepted and 
opportune time to bring it to bear upon the 
proper authorities in Minnesota. 

While my previous efforts had fallen short 
so far as my definite object was concerned, 
they had nevertheless been fruitful. The pro- 
paganda engaged in had opened the eyes of 
people blinded by prejudice and passion, and 
had aroused the sympathy of many whose 
hearts had been embittered by the tragic 
events of 187G. 

[178] 



[179] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

With a large leather valise, packed full of 
precious documents, including a third petition 
from the General Assembly of Missouri, I left 
Kansas City for St. Paul, July 6, 1897, again 
accompanied by H. A. Jones, of Pleasant Hill, 
Missouri, nephew of the Youngers. We reach- 
ed the Minnesota capital the eve of July 7th, 
too late to file these papers that day with the 
Board of Pardons. Wishing to maintain as 
much secrecy as possible as to our presence 
in St. Paul, we took due precaution to elude 
the ubiquitous newspaper reporter. 

Perhaps it will not be inappropriate to re- 
produce here a few of these letters written by 
distinguished men in Missouri and elsewhere : 



Gov. T. T. Crittenden, then Consul-General 
of the United States, wrote from the City of 
Mexico : 

"To the Minnesota Board of Pardons : I am 
asked to write you a letter soliciting the par- 
don of the Youngers, now in your prison. I 
respectfully ask it. I was Governor of Mis- 
souri at the time the James gang was broken 
up and have some knowledge of the actions 
and crimes of the Youngers and James boys. 



[180] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

I do not justify or ameliorate anything 
either gang did. I applaud the activity of your 
people in pursuing, arresting and convicting 
the Youngers. I now beg their pardon on the 
grounds that they have paid a severe penalty ; 
that they have been exemplary prisoners for 
twenty years ; that they are now old and brok- 
en down ; the law has been vindicated, and the 
few remaining years allotted to each, in free- 
dom, would show that your great state was 
more merciful than vindictive." 



James R. Waddill, of St. Louis, Union vet- 
eran, ex-Congressman, and Superintendent of 
Insurance for Missouri : 

"At the request of their friends, and in per- 
fect accord with my own feelings, from the 
standpoint of a Union soldier, which I was 
during the late war, I write you in behalf of a 
pardon for the Younger brothers. These men, 
now past middle age, returned to this, their 
native state, from the Confederate army at the 
close of the war and were so hostilely received 
at their old home that their lives were in con- 
stant danger, and they were forced to take to 
the woods. At the time of their return they 



[181] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

were scarcely more than lads, with characters 
unformed; four years' experience in the wild 
life of Confederate cavalrymen, with the treat- 
ment accorded them on their return, prepared 
them for a reckless life, and they became high- 
waymen and desperadoes. The culmination of 
their criminal career was in your own state, 
with the result of a life sentence in your peni- 
tentiary. They have been imprisoned now 
twenty years. Every report that comes to us 
concerning them is to the effect that they 
are entirely changed and reformed men. 
I believe you will receive full con- 
firmation of this statement from your 
penitentiary officials and the record of their 
prison life. Whatever of benefit can be at- 
tained for the state by penal servitude has cer- 
tainly been realized ; all the good that punish- 
ment can do in the case of these men has been 
accomplished. I believe that the time has come 
when it is wise — when both the requirements 
of wisdom and justice will be fully met by the 
exercise of the divine quality of mercy in 
granting full pardon to these men. I there- 
fore add my voice to the many who will speak 
or write to you in behalf of their pardon ; and 
I will be deeply grateful if you can see your 



[182] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

way clear to set them free, and let them return 
to a loving sister and their kindred here in 
their native state to spend the remaining days 
of their lives, and at the end to be laid away 
with their fathers. I believe this is just and 
right, and I therefore make this request." 



On July 6, 1897, United States Senator F. 
M. Cockrell wrote me from Washington City 
the following note : 

"My Dear Mr. Bronaugh : I have written and 
mailed to The Honorable — The Board of Par- 
dons for the State of Minnesota, St. Paul, 
Minnesota — a letter strongly urging the pardon 
of Cole and James Younger. It will reach 
St. Paul prior to July 12th, when the Board 
meets. I trust pardon will be granted to them. 
With kindly remembrances and best wishes, 
"Your friend, 

"F. M. Cockrell." 

The following is the letter: 

"I have heretofore declined to ask or to join 
in asking pardon for Cole and James Younger, 
confined in your penitentiary at Stillwater. 

"I believe the time has now come when the 



■• V? f.f^ 



^% 




/ .^m 



^JiX 




COL. E. IK ROGERS, 
Of Kansas City. 



[185] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

best interests of good government will be pro- 
moted by their pardon. They have served 
nearly two-thirds of the average term of life, 
uncomplainingly, obediently and submissive- 
ly. It is sufficient in length to act as a deter- 
rent. I believe their reform is genuine, honest, 
and true, and will be exemplified in their 
words, actions, and general behavior if they 
are pardoned. They will be living examples 
of the reformatory power and influence of im- 
prisonment for crime. I believe that now an 
overwhelming majority of the people of Mis- 
souri will justify and sustain their pardon and 
restoration to citizenship and liberty. They 
belong to an old and respected family in Mis- 
souri. I knew their father and mother per- 
sonally. They were most excellent, intelligent, 
worthy people, peaceable, quiet and law-abid- 
ing, and reared their children properly. Their 
inherited natures and dispositions were peace- 
able, law-abiding, humane and honorable. 
These traits will be exemplified in the actions 
of Cole and James if they are pardoned. I 
therefore earnestly hope you will feel justified 
in having pardon granted to each." 



[186] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

Hon. John F. Philips, a colonel in the Union 
army, ex-Congressman, and Judge of the 
United States District Court for the Western 
District of Missouri, wrote as follows to the 
Hon. Charles M. Start, Chief Justice of the 
Supreme Court of Minnesota, and member 
of the pardoning board : 

"I beg to add my recommendation to that of 
other citizens of this state for the pardon of 
the Younger brothers. I have no other inter- 
est in this matter than that which springs 
from humanity and mercy. These unfortunate 
men and myself were on opposing sides dur- 
ing the war. I never had any sympathy with 
their acts of lawlessness. But my feeling is 
that the conduct of these men was largely the 
fruit of the bitter predatory war that pre- 
vailed here in Missouri. Thirty years and 
more have healed up its wounds among our 
our people and nearly all of its scars have been 
obliterated. Time has brought healing on its 
wings to our people. Surely the Younger 
brothers have suffered enough. They are now 
old men, and I think that Justice has presided 
long and well enough in this case, and that 
Mercy might now be admitted to sit by her 
side." 



[187] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

March 10', 1896, United States Senator 
George G. Vest dropped me the following 
note: 

"My dear Sir: Yours of March 5th has just 
been received, and I enclose you the within 
letter, which I hope will be sufficient." 

The following is the letter : 

"While I have not the slightest sympathy 
w^ith lawlessness in any form, I have no hesita- 
tion in asking you to pardon Coleman and 
James Younger. 

"It seems to me that all the ends of justice 
have been accomplished. 

"That they have been made better men is 
evident from their good conduct as prisoners, 
and that others have been deterred from like 
crimes, is shown by the infrequency of such 
offenses in late years, and the capture in every 
instance of the criminals by determined pur- 
suit. 

"Besides this, there is much extenuation for 
these men, in their personal history. 

"Their father, whom I knew, kept a livery 
stable in Harrisonville, Cass county, Mis- 
souri, and was a staunch Union man. In 
1861, Kansas troops, under Jennison, forcibly 



[188] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

seized the horses in his stable, and shortly af- 
terward the elder Younger was murdered. 

"His sons, maddened by the outrage, joined 
Quantreirs band, and there learned the lesson 
which culminated in the crime which they are 
now expiating. 

"They come from one of the best families 
in Missouri, and but for circumstances, would 
have been peaceable citizens. 

"I hope you can find it consistent with your 
sense of duty to pardon them." 



Maj. James Bannerman, President of the 
Ex-Confederate Association, wrote to the 
board : 

"It is with sincere pleasure I recommend the 
pardon of the Younger brothers, who, I under- 
stand, have served what is usually considered 
a lifetime term. I am fully satisfied that if re- 
prieved their early training and the long time 
they have had for reflection would be a safe 
guarantee of good citizenship in the future. 
I know many of their relatives in this state 
who are honorable people, some holding posi- 
tions of honor and trust. 

"Missouri has by its legislature this winter 
established a home for the Federal and ex-Con- 



[189] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

federate soldiers, showing to our country that 
no feeh'ng of bitterness existed in our glorious 
old state. This act of clemency on your part 
would confirm what our legislature has so 
nobly done, and wipe out forever the last ves- 
tige of a punishment inflicted for a crime, the 
result of getting into the crooked road and 
evil ways during the terrible struggle of 
thirty-five years ago. 

''The Hon. John J. Crittenden, of Ken- 
tucky, in an address to a jury, said : 

" 'When God in His eternal counsel received 
the thought of man's creation, He called to 
Him the three ministers that wait constantly 
on the throne — Justice, Truth, and Mercy — 
and thus addressed them : "Shall we make 
man?" 

" 'J^^stice answered : "Oh, God, make him 
not, for he W\\\ trample upon my laws" Truth 
made answer also: "Oh, God, make him not 
for he will pollute the sanctuaries." Then 
Mercy, dropping upon her knees and looking 
up through her tears, exclaimed; "Oh, God, 
make him, I will watch over him with my 
care through the dark paths he may have to 



[190] 
The Youngcrs' Fight for Freedom. 

tread." Then God made man and said unto 
him, "Oh, man thou art the child of Mercy, 
go thou and deal mercifully with thy breth- 
ren.' " 

"The reprieve of those men would be ac- 
ceptable to the people of Missouri, regardless 
of the past." 



Hon. Champ Clark, member of Congress 
from Missouri, wrote: 

"In common with hosts of law-abiding citi- 
zens of one of your sister states of the Great 
Valley, I have felt a deep interest in the un- 
happy, but, perhaps, deserved, fate of the 
Younger brothers, now in the prison at Still- 
water. As one who feels that their crime, 
though great, has been expiated by their 
twenty years of prison life, I would beg to add 
my voice to the sound of those raised in asking 
for the pardon of these men. I have every rea- 
son to believe that they, even yet, if released, 
would live to be respected citizens of their na- 
tive state. They show evidences of a desire to 
live a better life than was theirs in the past. 
Feeling as I do that the ends of justice have 
been fully served, and that theirs has been a 



[191] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

far-reaching example, I beg to ask that they 
be permitted to end their lives in their old 
home and among the friends of their early 
days." 



Hon. Shepard Barclay, Judge of the Mis- 
souri Supreme Court, and a personal friend of 
Chief Justice Start, of Minnesota, wrote : 

"Mr. W. C. Bronaugh, of Missouri, is about 
to submit to your honorable board an applica- 
tion for clemency toward the Youngers, who 
are serving a term of imprisonment in Min- 
nesota. I am not sufficiently acquainted with 
your laws to know the proper limits of your 
discretionary power in such cases; but if it 
be entirely appropriate, allow me to say that 
I join with Mr. Bronaugh in requesting favor- 
able consideration of the said application, be- 
lieving that the interests of public justice 
would suffer no injury by the granting thereof 
at this time." 



Hon. J. L. Bittinger, distinguished Missouri 
journalist, member of the Missouri legislature, 
and United States Consul to Montreal, Can- 
ada, wrote as follows : 



[192] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

"In common with a large number of Repub- 
licans in Missouri, I earnestly recommend the 
pardon of Coleman and James Younger from 
your state prison. They have now been con- 
fined more than twenty years, certainly a pun- 
ishment long and severe enough for almost any 
crime. From what I can learn of their conduct 
in this position I am satisfied they will emerge 
from prison to make good, law-abiding, and 
useful citizens. Their release will greatly 
gratify a very large number of people in this 
state, and be almost universally approved by 
all classes." 



Hon. W. S. Cowherd, member of Congress 
from the Fifth Missouri district, sent the fol- 
lowing: 

"I desire to add my request to the numerous 
ones T know you have already received, asking 
the pardon of Coleman and James Younger. 
As a boy, I knew them both. They were 
members of an honorable family in this county, 
and I have always believed that their crimes 
were the outgrowth of the war and the pecu- 
liar conditions surrounding those who had 
taken part in the border warfare between this 
state and Kansas. 




UNITED STATES SENATOR WILLIAM WARNER. 



i.-^ 



[195] 
The Yonngers' Fight for Freedom, 

"I understand, as prisoners, their record is 
without a blemish. They have now served 
what is more than the ordinary lifetime in the 
walls of the penitentiary and it seems to me 
that a pardon would be no more than meeting 
the dictates of mercy and humanity." 



Hon. M. E. Benton, member of Congress 
from the Fifteenth Missouri district, and 
nephew of the great Thomas H. Benton, 
wrote : 

"I respectfully recommend the pardon of 
Coleman and James Younger, who have been 
confined in your prison for twenty years. I 
do not discuss with you the guilt or innocence, 
or the amount of turpitude of these prisoners. 
I have always believed that a man should 
not serve in prison for a term less than five 
years nor more than fifteen years. Because, if 
less than five years he learns nothing that will 
be useful to him after his release. And if for 
more than fifteen years he loses hope and is 
heartless. 

"I have served for a number of years as a 
prosecutor for the state, and as attorney of the 
United States, and I have deliberately come to 
this conclusion. I believe now these men 



[196] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

have been severely punished, and that it 
would be an act of mercy and humanity, to let 
them spend the remainder of their days as free 
men." 



Gov. W. J. Stone, ex-Congressman, and 
now United States Senator from Missouri : 

"I address you in the interest of the Young- 
ers, now confined in the penitentiary. I de- 
sire to join with others in recommending their 
application for pardon to your honorable 
Board's most kindly consideration. I do not 
know either of the petitioners, but am ac- 
quainted with some of their relatives in this 
state. The Youngers here are in every respect 
reputable and worthy citizens. The conditions 
existing in this state during and immediately 
following the war were peculiar. They were 
without parallel in any other section, so far as 
I know. A great many terrible tragedies were 
enacted and all the worst impulses of a num- 
ber of men were stirred into the most sav- 
age activity. I do not refer to this either to ex- 
cuse or to extenuate any unlawful acts com- 
mitted by the Youngers here or elsewhere, but 
to those familiar with the situation, it is not 
difficult to understand how men, naturally 



[197] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

well disposed, and who ordinarily would de- 
velop into useful citizens, were led or driven 
into excesses which practically made them out- 
laws. In those days there was an unforgiving 
spirit of bitterness throughout the state. 
There were feuds and vendettas, and men 
were hunted like wild beasts and shot. But 
all those days are now happily long since 
past. There is no vestige of that old bitter- 
ness remaining. The Youngers at Stillwater 
are almost the sole remaining reminders of 
that era, and all feeling against them has dis- 
appeared. I believe I am safe in saying that 
our entire population regards their unhappy 
condition with real commiseration and would 
be rejoiced if their liberty should be restored. 
I have no doubt they would return quietly to 
their old home in Missouri and remain law- 
abiding citizens during the rest of their lives. 
I have heard many prominent men in different 
sections of the state, and of all political parties, 
express their hope that they might be pardon- 
ed, in which hope I personally share. I beg to 
ask the Honorable Board's patient and merci- 
ful consideration of their application. I will 
be greatly pleased if in the discharge of your 
duty you can see your way clear to release 
them." 



CHAPTER 20. 
The Board of Pardons. 

ON July 8, 189'7, I succeeded in filing 
these documents with the Board 
of Pardons. This board was com- 
posed of three members — Gov. 
Clough, Attorney-General Childs, and Chief 
Justice Start. These distinguished gentlemen 
convened in their official capacity in the Gov- 
ernor's office. Announcement of this meeting 
had pr^eviously been made in the newspapers, 
and public interest was thoroughly aroused, 
tion of the pardon of the two Younger broth- 
ers would be brought up July 12th for consid- 
for it was known that the all-absorbing ques- 
eration and decided for or against them. Their 
fate was hanging in the balance, as also were 
the hopes of their adherents. 

Farmers came into town from all the sur- 
rounding neighborhood and men in the city 
left their places of business to attend the meet- 
ing. Northfield sent a large delegation, among 
which were a number of the most prominent 
and influential men in the state. It is needless 

[198] 



[199] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

to say that a majority of them were strenu- 
ously opposed to a pardon and they came to 
the capital to add their voice to the protest of 
others. 

The Governor's office was crowded with 
eager visitors, and hundreds of people surged 
into and out of the building. Interest had 
reached a high pitch and the scene presented 
was one long to be remembered. 

The board met promptly at 10 o'clock Mon- 
day morning, July 12th. Gov. Clough, the 
chairman, was seated between Attorney-Gen- 
eral Childs at his right and Chief Justice Start 
at his left. Gathered about them were noted 
men, some of whoni were to make appeals for 
pardon, while others were to oppose it with all 
the power and eloquence at their command. 

One of the most forceful and eloquent argu- 
ments was made by Judge James McCafiferty, 
who left untouched no detail that could add 
strength to his effort. He made an especially 
effective point when he recited an instance of 
a terrible tragedy enacted in a Minnesotacoun- 
ty. A certain man living at a little town had 
murdered his wife, chopped her body into 
pieces, placed them in a box and put it under 
the floor for concealment. The night following 



[200] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

the day of the diaboHcal deed he invited a 
number of his neighbors to a party at his 
house. These men and women, innocent of any 
knowledge or even suspicion of the ghastly 
crime, danced above the mutilated corpse of 
the Avife, whose absence from the revel was 
cunningly explained by the guilty husband. 
He himself was among the gayest of all that 
company. 

Some days later a sickening stench from the 
premises attracted attention, investigation 
was made, the hidden body was found, and 
the murderer, who had fled in the meantime, 
was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to 
the Stillwater penitentiary for life. After hav- 
ing served only eight years, a pardon was grant- 
ed him by Gov. Merriam — the man who had so 
inconsistently refused to grant clemency to 
Bob Younger, who had served thirteen years in 
the same prison, and none of whose crimes 
had ever approached in atrocity this other one. 

Col. Norrish, of Hastings, Minnesota, who 
had been a member of the board of prison offi- 
cials; and Mayor Smith, of St. Paul, made 
stirring appeals for the pardon. 

County Attorney A. L. Keyes and Mayor 
A. D. Keyes, of Faribault, appeared before 



[201] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

the board and made earnest pleas against par- 
don. In his remarks, Mayor Keyes said : 

"There are three things we want to know, 
and Cole and Jim Younger can tell us about 
them better than anyone else. These three 
things are: 

"First, was Frank James in the bank on the 
day of the robbery? 

"Second, who was the last man who left the 
bank? 

"Third, who was the man who rode the 
buckskin horse?" 

Gov. Clough here interposed and asked 
what these questions had to do with the mat- 
ter. The James boys were not on trial. 

Mr. Keyes explained that the last man to 
leave the bank on the day of the robbery was 
the man who killed Cashier Heywood, and the 
Younger brothers knew who that man was, 
said Keyes : 

"These men come here and ask for a pardon 
on the grounds that they have reformed in 
mind and morals as well as in heart, and they 
are prepared to become good citizens, if they 
are released. We claim that it is not too much 
to ask that they shall remain where they are 
until they disclose the name of the man who 



[202] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

killed Heywood. It is not an element of g-ood 
citizenship to conceal a murderer. Good faith 
on their part demands that they disclose the 
name of the man who killed Cashier Heywood, 
that the man may be brought back to Minne- 
sota and punished. If the murderer was Frank 
James, as we are led to believe, then he has 
never suffered anything for his crime. He has 
never even been imprisoned, and it is no more 
than right that he should suffer the penalty in 
some measure at least. If the Youngers are 
now the good citizens they claim to be, they 
would go on the stand and by telling the truth 
would assist the authorities of this state in 
bringing the Northfield murderer to justice." 

Many affidavits were presented to the board 
from eyewitnesses of the shooting of the 
Swede boy, Gustafson, and all stated that Cole 
Younger has that deed to answer for. 

After the affidavits had been filed, charging 
that it was Cole Younger who shot the Swede 
at Northfield, there was a good deal said as to 
the credibility of the witnesses making these. 
Attorney Baxter visited the vicinity of the 
killing the morning after it took place and talk- 
ed with a number of persons residing in that 
neighborhood. None of them had seen the 






-^. ■ - 




^.... J 



JAMES MONROE SEIBERT. 



[205] 
The Youngers Fight for Freedom, 

shooting. The verdict of the coroner's jury 
was to the effect that Gustafson came to his 
death by a stray bullet, fired by an unknown 
party. 

This was a strong point made in favor of 
Cole Younger, and certainly it was a welcome 
one to his supporters, for the opposition was 
making a stupendous effort to break down the 
defense. 

Finally it came my turn to make a speech. I 
had never established a reputation in Mis- 
souri or elsewhere as a "spell-binder." I had 
passed the most of my life in agricultural pur- 
suits and knew far more about crops and cattle 
and hogs and horses than I did about oratory 
and rhetoric. 

Realizing the magnitude of the task before 
me and my forensic limitations, I prepared my 
speech beforehand, assisted by Warden Wol- 
fer. I instructed the typewriter who took it 
down for dictation, to make the letters as 
large as a light-house, if she could, so that I 
might not lose my way. It was an imposing 
speech, on paper at least, and I set about to 
become more thoroughly familiar with it. 
I retired to my room at the hotel, sat up un- 
til after 12 o'clock one night, and read that 



[206] 
The Youngcrs' Fight for Freedom, 

thing over thirty-seven times by actual count. 

When I arose, therefore, in that august pres- 
ence and before that large assemblage, with 
my speech fluttering in my fingers, I exper- 
ienced a strange and sudden attack of nostal- 
gia. Plain people call it homesickness. But 
my Avhole heart was in the cause, and what 
I may have lacked in eloquence I made up in 
earnestness. 

When the arguments, pro and con, had all 
been heard, the members of the board were 
ready to cast their votes. Judge Start, as had 
been feared, voted in the negative. It was 
generally understood that his associates fav- 
ored pardon, but inasmuch as the vote had to 
be unanimous in order to be valid, Messrs. 
Clough and Childs made it so. 

Contrary to expectations, the board late that 
night gave out a statement of its reasons for 
denying pardon. It is as follows : 

"While under the law the Board of Pardons 
is not required to make a statement of its rea- 
sons in a case where a pardon is denied, it is, 
perhaps, just as well that the public should 
know the grounds on which the Board based 
its refusal of a pardon to the Youngers. The 
petitioners in law and in fact were murderers. 



[207] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

This proposition was established by a plea of 
guilty and the final judgment of a court of 
competent jurisdiction. It is the exclusive 
province of the Legislature to prescribe as 
punishment for murder, either death or im- 
prisonment. 

"The Board of Pardons had no moral right 
to interfere Avith this punishment unless there 
are extenuating circumstances. The character 
of this crime renders it one absolutely without 
extenuating circumstances. Even the advo- 
cates of a pardon did not venture to suggest 
that the sentence was not just. No one claimed 
that there was any injustice done here, and 
the only reason urged for a pardon meriting 
serious consideration was the fact of the early 
environment of the petitioners and that they 
are now reformed. Their parentage was good. 
As to their environment, eleven long years 
passed after the close of the war, and instead 
of following the example of the men at Appo- 
mattox, who accepted in good faith the mag- 
nanimous terms ofifered by Grant, and return- 
ed to their homes and the peaceful pursuits 
of civil life, they became a part of a notorious 
band of outlaws. The plea that they s-hould 
be pardoned on the ground of their early en- 



[208] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

vironment seemed to the Board to be wholly 
insufficient to warrant their pardon. 

"The claim that they are reformed, conced- 
ing it to be a fact, if made the basis of their 
pardon, would require that every life convict 
who serves twenty-one years should be par- 
doned. In short, if these petitioners were 
pardoned, as a matter of fairness, in the case 
of every person convicted of murder his sen- 
tence should be commuted to life imprison- 
ment with the understanding that if he con- 
ducted himself properly and reformed, he 
should be set at liberty at the end of twenty- 
one years. For the Board to adopt such a 
policy would be an arbitrary usurpation of 
irresponsible power which would prove a 
menace to life and a curse to the state. The 
highest public interests of the state impera- 
tively required that the application be denied." 



CHAPTER 21. 
My Letter to the Pioneer Press. 

AT this time, July 14th, I sent to the 
editor of the St. Paul Pioneer 
Press the following communica- 
tion, which appeared in that 
paper the next morning, over my own name : 

'*So much has been said for and against the 
Younger brothers through the press of this 
state that I desire to make a few explanations 
with reference to my attitude and the interest 
T have taken in the case. 

"I had hoped that the Board of Pardons, 
after having carefully considered the history 
of the Youngers and some of the circum- 
stances connected with the raid at Northfield, 
and their unparalleled record in prison for 
good behavior, would in their wisdom grant 
them a pardon and allow them to go home to 
spend their remaining years in Missouri among 
their friends and relatives. 

'T believe that if the Board of Pardons knew 
these men and the penitent spirit now pos- 
sessing them, they would not hesitate to par- 
don them out of prison. 

[209] 
H 



[210] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

*'I am aware that there has been a great 
deal of newspaper criticism which has reflected 
very seriously, particularly upon Cole Younger 
and the part he took at Northfield. 

"This is quite elaborately displayed in af- 
fidavits read by C. P. Carpenter, of North- 
field, before the Board of Pardons, in which 
they sought to establish the fact that Cole 
Younger deliberately shot and killed the in- 
offensive Swede, Gustafson. 

"In the make-up of these affidavits the state- 
ment previously made by Cole Younger and 
purporting to be a true statement of what 
transpired during the robbery at Northfield is 
used. 

"The evident purpose of the affidavits seems 
to have been to discredit and nullify any 
favorable influence that might come from the 
above statement made by Cole Younger. 

'T do not want to impugn the honesty of 
of au}^ of these gentlemen who made these 
affidavits, although it has been suggested to 
me by several gentlemen in this state, two 
of wihom are residents of Northfield, that it is 
passing strange that no one could be found 
in Northfield immediately after the bank rob- 
bery took place who was willing to testify that 



[211] 
The Yoimgers' Fight for Freedom. 

he saw Cole or Jim Younger shoot this inof- 
fensive Swede, or, for that matter, any one 
else, but twenty-one years later three persons 
can be found who are willing to come forward 
and state under oath that they were eye- 
witnesses to all that took place during the 
progress of the robbery and that they saw 
Cole Younger deliberately shoot and kill the 
Swede. 

"I read in this morning's Pioneer Press a 
copy of a telegram sent to Gov. Clough from 
G. N. Baxter, who was Prosecuting Attorney 
at Northfield in 1876, and who prosecuted the 
Youngers, in which Mr. Baxter states that no 
one could be found in Northfield at that time 
who was able to say whether this young Swede 
was killed by a citizen or robber ; that they 
finally decided that his death was caused by 
a stray bullet, but were unable to say from 
which side. 

''This plainly indicates to my mind the 
danger of accepting ex parte statements in 
form of affidavits. 

"Is it possible that these men living at 
Northfield at that time could not furnish this 
information when that city, as well as the 
whole state, was in a condition of excitement 



[212] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

over the robbery, and all were so anxious to 
punish the perpetrators to the full extent 
of the law, and yet after twenty-one years they 
are able to recall and accurately describe in 
minutest detail incidents and information that 
they were unable to give when the facts and 
incidents were of recent occurrence and were 
fresh- in the memory of those who witnessed 
them? 

"I contend that these affidavits are not only 
unworthy of public credit when carefully con- 
sidered, but that they are manifestly unfair 
to the prisoners. 

"These prisoners are unable to defend them- 
selves — they are behind prison walls, deprived 
of every chance for self-defense. 

'T do not wish to speak harshly or to' in- 
sinuate that these gentlemen intended to give 
any false testimony, but I can not help think- 
ing that they were induced to draw upon their 
imagination in the preparation of these affi- 
davits, and that the statements made are en- 
tirely unwarranted by the facts. I can not 
conceive how any man with a living conscience 
can permit himself to make such an unwar- 
ranted thrust at men who are in prison and 




DR. J. W. McCLURE, 
Of Sedalia. 



[215] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

unable to use any of the avenues open to the 
ordinary citizen for self-defense. 

"I hope with all my heart that some of the 
good citizens of this state will take it into 
their hands to see that a thorough investiga- 
tion is made, that in the end the Avhole truth 
may be known. It is due to Cole Younger, as 
well as to the law-abiding and justice-loving 
people of this state. If he is innocent, as I con- 
fidently believe he is, he should be vindicated. 
If he is guilty of deliberately taking the life of 
the inoffensive Swede, let the truth be known; 
but if he is not guilty of this fresh crime of 
which he has been accused for the first time, 
twenty-one years after the crime is alleged 
to have been committed, his innocence should 
be fully and finally established. 

''A great deal of stress is laid upon the fact 
that Cole Younger failed to give in his state- 
ment the name of the man who rode the buck- 
skin horse or who was last in the bank, the 
claim being made that if he was truly penitent 
for past misdeeds he would have given full in- 
formation as to his confederates. 

"I do not understand why the people of 
Northfield should make this claim, inasmuch 
as it has been frequently asserted that they 



[216] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

are fully aware who these parties were, and 
that, acting upon reliable information, a re- 
quisition has been made by the Governor of 
this state upon the Governor of Missouri, over 
twelve years ago for the body of the prisoner 
who it was claimed was the only living per- 
son, aside from the Youngers, who participated 
in the bank robbery. 

"The Youngers feel, as I would feel under 
similar circumstances, that it would not re- 
dound to their credit as men to put them- 
selves in the position of turning informants 
for the purpose of securing clemency for them- 
selves. They feel, as I would feel, that they 
were responsible for their part in the crime 
committed and should suffer the penalty with- 
out attempting to save themselves by turning 
state's evidence. I honor the Youngers for 
this position, and I believe that every fair- 
minded man will do the same. 

"I noticed in one of the Minneapolis papers 
some days ago a communication from a Mr. 
McMath, who claimed to have been shot by 
Cole Younger three different" times during the 
war ; that after he had been shot from his 
horse Cole Younger directed one of the men 
under his command to knock his brains out 
with a stone. 



■ [217] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

"I have lived in Missouri all my life, I know 
the Youngers thoroughly, am acquainted with 
their family history and the part the Youngers 
took during the war in the Confederate ser- 
vice. I know and can prove that the Youngers 
were never guilty of any unsoldierly conduct. 
The numerous letters on file before the Board 
of Pardons have fully established this, and 
this testimony is given not by Confederate 
soldiers and officers, but by Union men of un- 
questioned veracity, some of whom were Fed- 
eral officers in the army and are holding posi- 
tions of great responsibility in public life to- 
day. 

"Foremost among them I will mention 
United States Senator S. B, Elkins, of West 
Virginia, and Maj. Emory S. Foster, of St. 
Louis. Both of these not only testified that 
the Younger brothers were never guilty of any 
unsoldierly conduct during the war, but that 
upon several occasions they used their influ- 
ence and power to stay the bloodthirsty dis- 
position on the part of some of their comrades 
on the battlefield. That they were indebted to 
the Youngers for their lives, and had it not 
been for vigorous interference by the Younger 
brothers in their behalf, neither of them would 



[218] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

be alive to plead for the prisoners at this time. 

"I submit that this is ample proof that the 
bloodthirsty story told by Mr. McMath of 
Minneapolis has been wholly drawn from his 
imagination and has no foundation in fact. 

"The relatives and friends of the Youngers 
in Missouri will deeply lament our failure in 
securing their pardon. We felt confident that 
the justice of our cause would receive recog- 
nition and the prayers so earnestly made by 
a sister state would be answered. I believe, 
however, that the members composing the 
Board of Pardons were honest and conscienti- 
ous in giving their decision, that they believed 
it for the best interests of society that these 
men should be longer continued in prison and 
submitted to indefinite punishment. 

"It is a sad case. I feel it very keenly, and 
I cannot help thinking but that in some way 
and somehow God in His own time and in 
His inscrutable province will help these good 
men to see their way clear to grant them a 
pardon. Both of the Youngers are rapidly ap- 
proaching old age; at best they have not many 
years to live. I know, as every one else knows, 
who has come in contact with them, that they 
have fully repented of past misdeeds and are 



[219] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

sincerely sorry for every wrong act they have 
ever committed. 

"We shall return to our homes and meet our 
friends in sorrow. If it is the will of the good 
people of Minnesota to keep these men in 
prison until they are ripe for the grave, their 
will is law. We have done our best. 

"We leave the field with regret, but we hope 
that the good people of this state, unasked and 
unsolicited by us at any future time, will de- 
termine that the limit of punishment should 
be fixed, and that there may be a ray of hope 
spanning their horizon — a hope that sometime 
before the grim reaper shall claim them for 
his own, they may be liberated and allowed to 
return to their homes to die among their 
friends and relatives." 



T 



CHAPTER 22. 
Newspaper Comments. 

O show the extremely hostile senti- 
ment, especially at Northfield, the 
following editorial from the News, 
of that city, is given : 



"The action of the Board of Pardons in the 
case of the Youngers receives our warmest 
commendation. We would almost say that we 
congratulate the members of the board, but we 
do not think that congratulations are in order, 
when men are called upon to do their duty. 
The heavy pressure brought to bear upon the 
board by the presentation of numerous peti- 
tions amounted to naught when confronted by 
the statements of citizens who were eyewit- 
nesses to the most daring and cowardly rob- 
bery ever attempted in the history of the state. 
The setting at liberty of these men would mean 
more than the average individual comprehends. 

"In the first place, society would be none 
the better if they were released, and although 
we do not believe that they would again en- 
gage in their old pursuits, if liberated, yet we 

[220] 



[221] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

can not help but say, and say frankly, that the 
effect the pardon would have on other evil- 
doers would be in time dangerous. 

"What was it that prompted the crowd of 
men at Glencoe to hang the murderers of 
Sheriff Rodgers? They were afraid the law 
would not give the criminals their just des- 
erts. The Youngers pleaded guilty of murder 
at Faribault twenty-one years ago, and under 
the construction of the law at that time they 
took life imprisonment for doing so. Life im- 
prisonment does not mican ten years, nor 
twenty years, but during the time of their 
natural lives. 

*'We are very glad to know that the Young- 
ers have behaved themselves while in prison 
— it is something they did not do out of it — 
and besides, what is there in state's prison to 
do but behave ? They say they are thoroughly 
reformed and it has even been intimated that 
they are Christians. If this is the case, is it 
good Christianity to assist a fugitive to escape 
justice? No good citizen or Christian could 
do that. Is this not what they are doing by 
refusing to tell who left the bank last or who 
rode the buckskin horse? 

"The Board of Pardons of the State of Min- 



[222] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

nesota has said that our laws must be obeyed 
and they must be enforced and this will spread 
as broadcast over the land as the news of the 
raid twenty-one years ago. If we have laws 
they should be respected, and we have every 
reason to believe that they will be. Let life 
sentence mean what it savs." 



The St. Paul Globe contained the following 
editorial : 

"It is evident that this movement to secure 
the release of the Youngers has been too care- 
fully organized and too shrewdly carried out 
not to have behind it some assurance of suc- 
cess. Ever since these men were sentenced for 
their crime there has been an almost unresting 
endeavor to save them from the punishment 
of their crimes. The manner in which the lat- 
est form of this has been blazoned to the pub- 
lic, the careful distribution of such matter as 
would tell in their favor to all the newspapers 
and the strong endorsements obtained and 
sprung in the nature of a sensation, all indi- 
cate a campaign ably planned and confident 
of success. It is significant, too, that many of 
those who up to this time, have started up in 
righteous wrath at the mere mention of a pos- 




REV. THOS. M. COBB, 
Of Lexington, Missouri, 



[225] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

sible pardon for the Youngers have now had 
the sharp edge of their resistance worn away 
and by dint of sheer importunity, are per- 
suaded to take the side of an easy-going sen- 
timentaHsm." 



A special correspondent for the Boonville 
Advertiser, one of the oldest and most influ- 
ential newspapers in Missouri, writing from 
Jeflferson City, said : 

"Whatever may be thought of the guilt or 
innocence of the Younger boys — whether we 
believe them devils incarnate or martyrs to 
the Civil War — there is a general feeling of 
admiration here, as everywhere, for the spirit 
of friendship manifested by those who have 
labored to secure the pardon of these men now 
in the Minnesota penitentiary. Call it mock- 
ish sentimentality or blind hero worship, or 
what you will, it still remains eternally true 
that he who stands by his friends in misfor- 
tune, in distress, in disgrace, caring not 
Avhether he be alone or one. of many in their de- 
fense, is worthy of all honor and praise. 

''There is a Missourian who has ridden 
farther and labored harder than any other in 
behalf of these men. And this without reflec- 
tion upon others who have done much. Hold- 
ing friendship sacred, and for the sake of that 
15 



[226] 
Tlie Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

stalwart companionship born always of the 
bivouac and the battlefield, he has poured out 
in their behalf his money like water and has 
spent his time most prodigiously. 

''In securing names for the petition for par- 
don, he canvassed the entire west, and pre- 
sented to the Governor of Minnesota a docu- 
ment unequaled in criminal literature, for upon 
.it were the autographs of men high in author- 
ity and influence and position, scattered over 
several states. To secure these, he argued 
with some — earnestly and quietly and softly — 
to others he merely stated the case. Again, 
he pleaded eloquently and splendidly. The 
echo of his resonant voice has scarcely died 
away in Jeflferson City even now. Withal, he 
was open and manly and straightforward, as 
a gentleman should be, and a brave man. 

"It takes a gentleman to be a friend like this 
— gallant, noble, tender and true. Such a man 
is W. C. Bronaugh, of Henry county. In 
these days of sycophants of flatterers and hyp- 
ocrites and humbugs, how refreshing it is to 
meet a man like this to whom friendship means 
something more than empty phrase. That he 
is a Missourian of the Bourbon type goes with- 
out saying. Of such stuiT are true friends 
made." 



CHAPTER 23. 
Another Failure. 

AFTER our great effort on this occa- 
sion had failed and the future 
looked very dark for further ac- 
tion, Mr. Jones and I took our de- 
parture for Stillwater, where we became the 
guests of Warden Wolfer. I shall never for- 
get the great hospitality of this large-hearted 
gentleman. He left nothing undone to add to 
our pleasure and comfort, and our sojourn un- 
der his roof will ever be most agreeable to re- 
call. 

From Stillwater Mr. Jones and I went to 
Minneapolis, where we were entertained by 
Dr. Bebee, who had been a physician at the 
penitentiary. He had formed an intimate ac- 
quaintance with the Youngers, and he and 
Cole were on particularly good terms. 

In honor of the expected parole of Cole and 
Jim by the Board, the proceedings before 
which I have narrated, a brother-in-law of 
Dr. Bebee's, rich and hospitable, had pre- 
pared a supper at his elegant home in Minne- 

[227] 



[228] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

apolis. It was intended that the two Young- 
ers should be guests of honor, and when it was 
learned that owing to the adverse decision of 
the Board they would be unable to be present, 
the host was sadly disappointed. However, 
the supper went on and I had the great honor 
of being made the principal guest, as I was 
looked upon as the next best friend of the un- 
fortunate absentees. 

The next day Mr. Jones and I returned to 
St. Paul and called on Gov. Clough. The 
Younger matter was brought up and the Gov- 
ernor, in a very sober and sincere manner, 
said: 

"It was a great mistake that I did not sign 
the pardon of Cole and Jim when I was urged 
to do so by yourself, Dunn and others. I 
have but one time to regret my action, and 
that will be all my life." 

In this utterance. Gov. Clough undoubtedly 
voiced the deep sentiment of his heart. His 
peculiar tone and manner of expression plainly 
indicated this. 

In the Minnesota General Assembly of 1899 
a bill was introduced, granting an absolute 
pardon to the Youngers. It was bravely and 
ably championed by ex-Attorney-General 



[229] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

George P. Wilson, who was then serving as 
a State Senator. This measure passed the 
Senate by a vote of forty-eight yeas to five 
noes, but was badly defeated in the house. 

Baffled and blocked again, when such pow- 
erful influences had been brought to bear, 
and when victory at times seemed to be as- 
sured, it was little wonder that the result of 
this latest test was another heavy disappoint- 
ment to all who desired the release of the 
Missouri prisoners at Stillwater. 

Between the years 1899 and 1901 I con- 
tinued the agitation in my own state, and also 
maintained a correspondence with friends in 
the far north. In 1901 the famous Deming 
Bill, paroling the Youngers, was introduced in 
the Minnesota legislature and passed both 
houses. This was by all odds the most ad- 
vanced step toward ultimate victory that had 
yet been made, after so many weary years of 
travel and toil, and of hope deferred. But 
right in the path of this bill loomed and stood 
a formidable obstacle that must yet be over- 
come ere the consummation of the plan that 
I had formed and fought for. The bill must be 
submitted for approval to the Board of Prison 
Officials, composed of five members. 

June 6, 1901, these gentlemen held an offi- 



[230] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

clal meeting and approved the parole bill with- 
out a dissenting voice. In the main the bill 
read as follows : 

"Be it enacted by the legislature of the State 
of Minnesota: 

"Section 1. That section 7510 of the 1894 
General Statutes of the State of Minnesota be, 
and the same is hereby, amended so as to read 
as follows : 

"Section 7510. The board of managers of 
the Minnesota state prison shall have author- 
ity, under such rules and regulations as the 
Governor may prescribe, to issue a parole to 
any prisoner who is now, or hereafter may be, 
imprisoned in said state prison, whether com- 
mitted on a time sentence or on the reforma- 
tory plan, or for life; provided, 

"1. That no convict shall be paroled who is 
known to have served previous sentence in 
any prison for felony. 

"2. That no convict who is serving a time 
sentence shall be paroled until he shall have 
served at least one-half of the full term for 
which he was sentenced, not reckoning any 
good time. 

"3. That no convict who is serving under 
life sentence shall be paroled until he shall 



[231] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

have served under such sentence thirty-five 
(35) years, less the diminution which he 
would have been allowed by law for good 
conduct had he been sentenced for a term of 
thirty-five (35) years. 

"That no such life convinct shall be pa- 
roled under the provisions of this act without 
the unanimous consent of the Governor in 
writing, nor unless it appears to the board of 
managers that there is a strong and reasona- 
ble probability that he will live and remain at 
liberty without violating the law, and that his 
release is not incompatible with the welfare of 
society. 

"Geographical parole limits may be fixed in 
each such case wholly within or extending be- 
yond this state, which limits may be enlarged 
or reduced, according to the conduct of the 
prisoner so paroled. 

"4. That such convicts, while on parole, 
shall remain in the legal custody and under 
the control of the board of managers, and 
subject at any time to be taken back within 
the inclosure of said prison ; and full power to 
retake and reimprison any convict so upon 
parole is hereby conferred upon said board 
whose written order, certified bv the warden. 



[232] 
The Youngers' Fight for Fi^eedom, 

shall be sufficient warrant for all officers 
named in it to authorize such officers to return 
to actual custody any conditionally released 
or paroled prisoner; and it is hereby made the 
duty of all officers to execute said order the 
same as ordinary criminal process. 

"5. That in considering applications for pa- 
role, it shall be unlawful for the board of man- 
agers of the state reformatory to entertain any 
petition, receive any written communication, 
or hear any argument from any attorney, or 
other person not connected with the said 
prison or reformatory, in favor of the condi- 
tional pardon of any prisoner; but the said 
board of managers may, if they deem proper, 
institute inquiries by correspondence, or oth- 
erwise, as to the previous history or character 
of any prisoner." 

In a letter written to me by the Hon. C. 
P. Deming, dated Minneapolis, Minn., July 9, 
1903, he said: 

"I never did any work that I more firmly 
believed in, nor did it more unselfishly than I 
performed my part in this. The people as a 
whole believed in it, but some were very bitter 
against us who worked for the measure. 

"As you intimate, the work had been going 




JUDGE R. A. MOTT, 
Who Wrote the First Minnesota Letter for Pardon. 



[235] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

on for twenty years, and when I held in my 
hand in that legislature on the day the bill 
passed, the letters of such men as Gov. Mar- 
shall, Bishops Whipple and Gilbert, Gen. Sib- 
ley, Alexander Ramsey, and others, I felt that 
the members must listen to such men. Most 
of those men were dead and their memories 
were dearly cherished by the people of Minne- 
sota. I reminded them that could those men 
appear to-day they would be granted any favor 
they might ask and in quoting the words used 
only a short time before his death, of Cush- 
man K. Davis, 'Men can benefit those that 
come after them more than they can benefit 
those that are with them, and of all the pul- 
pits from which the human voice is ever sent 
there is none from which it reaches so far as 
from the grave,' I felt that I had the most pow- 
erful argument that could be presented. So 
it is not the work that we did that day alone 
that passed the bill, but the work that had 
been going on for years." 

June 8th of that same year I went to Min- 
neapolis and called on Senator Wilson, whose 
office was in the Lumber Exchange building. 
It was the first time we had ever come face to 
face. After I had made myself and my mission 



[236] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

known, and had engaged in a brief preliminary- 
conversation, Senator Wilson suggested that I 
should meet a number of the members of the 
legislature, which had just finally adjourned. 
I gladly consented and he arranged such a 
meeting to be held in his law apartments at 
three o'clock that afternoon. Among the mem- 
bers of the assembly whose acquaintance I 
had the honor of forming on that occasion were 
Senator Stockwell and Representative Dem- 
ing, the latter of whom was the author of the 
bill bearing his name and which had so much 
to do with opening the prison gates at Still- 
water. 

At this gathering Senator Wilson remarked 
that he had recently had a talk with Governor 
Van Sant, on Decoration Day, and the Gov- 
ernor had told him that he (Van Sant) had 
lately received a letter from an attorney of Se- 
dalia, Missouri, bitterly opposing the pardon 
of the Youngers. The name of this lawyer was 
not given me, and I can only surmise his iden- 
tity. 

In speaking of this letter, Sen. Wilson said 
he feared its influence on the pardoning board 
and he would advise me, in order to counter- 
act the harm it might do, to set to work at 



[237] 
The Yoiingers' Fight for Freedom, 

once to prevent it ; that on my return home 
I should secure all the letters I could for pres- 
entation to the board before its next meeting, 
July 8th, when perhaps the fate of the Young- 
ers would be finally settled. Especially, con- 
tinued the Senator, should I get as strong let- 
ters as possible from Governors Stone and 
Dockery, addressed to Governor Van Sant; 
one from my Attorney-General to Attorney- 
General Douglas ; one from my Chief Justice 
to Chief Justice Start, and one from Maj. Wil- 
liam Warner, of Kansas City addressed to the 
Board of Pardons. 

Returning to Missouri, I secured all these 
letters and was again in St. Paul with them by 
July 7, 1901, ready for the meeting of the 
board, which was to be held the next day. 

Among these was a joint letter addressed to 
the pardoning board and signed by nearly 
every attorney in the city of Sedalia, Mis- 
souri ; and also another joint letter signed by 
nearly every bank president and cashier there. 
At my request the Hon. William D. Steele, a 
distinguished lawyer of that city, devoted his 
personal attention and efforts to the task of 
obtaining these valuable documents. 



CHAPTER 24. 
Favorable Action at Last. 

FROM the 8th to the 10th of July, 1901, 
the Board was occupied in consid- 
ering applications for pardon, to the 
number of forty. These applications 
had little interest other than of a local na- 
ture. 

Upon my arrival in St. Paul I went directly 
to the Merchants' Hotel and registered as "W. 
C. Carter, Dallas, Texas." I did not, for ob- 
vious reasons, wish my presence in the city 
to become known to the public, and I suc- 
ceeded in my purpose. 

On the 10th of the month all was in readi- 
ness for the Board to take up the application 
of Cole and Jim Younger for a parole. Every- 
body was on the alert. It was the all absorb- 
ing sensation of the hour. Little else but the 
fate of the boys was talked about. It was the 
chief topic of gossip, comment, and specula- 
tion at the hotels, in homes and business 
houses, on the streets and elsewhere. The fu- 
ture destiny of the two prisoners was to be 

[238] 



[239J 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

decided within probably the next few hours. 
Were they again to be allowed to breathe the 
blessed air of freedom or linger on behind those 
iron bars that had shut them away from the 
outside world for so many dark and dismal 
years, until the merciful messenger of death, 
knowing neither courts of law nor boards of 
pardon, should release them? 

In order to preserve my incognito and be 
near the scene of proceedings I stepped into an 
ice cream parlor which stood just across the 
street from the capitol. My good friend. State 
Auditor Dunn, kindly offered to keep me in- 
formed as to the course of events. He was so 
thoroughly acquainted with everybody and 
had access to such sources of information that 
I knew nothing could escape his attention. 

From my coign of vantage I could see 
through the windows of the capitol what was 
going on in the room where the Board was in 
session,. but I could not hear what was said. 

Presently, Mr. Dunn returned to me and 
said that as no decision would likely be reached 
before the afternoon, for me to go and get my 
dinner. I complied and went to a nearby res- 
taurant, where I gave an order to a waiter. She 
disappeared behind a door to execute the order 



[240] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

and I was sitting at a table, nervous and im- 
patient, when the faithful Dunn stepped in and 
gave me a lively slap on the shoulder. The 
next instant he announced the joyful news 
that the Board had signed the parole. 

I do not know which was the more overcome 
with emotion and excitement — Dunn or my- 
self. 

I tarried in the restaurant only long enough 
to countermand the order for my dinner, as it 
had not been served yet, and I did not think at 
that supreme moment very much about the 
small matter of eating. 

My first impulsewas to flash the glad tidings 
over the wires to anxious friends in Missouri 
and I immediately hastened to the Pioneer 
Press Building, where I wrote out and dis- 
patched tAventy-five telegrams. The reader 
may well understand that it was a "rush" 
order. 

The next thing for me to do was to hurry 
to Stillwater and share with the boys the joy- 
ful news of their good luck. 

What a happy moment it would be to me ! 
The struggle of the long past would all be for- 
gotten by them and myself in this message of 
emancipation. 



[241] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

The parole was the subject of editorial com- 
ment by papers throughout the United States. 
With few exceptions it was generously en- 
dorsed and the Board were highly commended. 
The St. Paul Pioneer Press, July 18th, had 
the following to say : 

"The parole of the Youngers is one of those 
acts of mercy which is twice blessed. It bles- 
seth him that gives and him that takes. It will 
be approved by public sentiment throughout 
the state. It is worthy of note that no one ap- 
peared before the Board of Pardons, in person 
or by written remonstrance, to enter protest 
against this mitigation of the penalty of the 
law. Even those who most bitterly opposed 
the pardon of these men could find no reason- 
able ground for objecting to their release from 
prison on parole. They are still prisoners sub- 
ject to the control and surveillance of the pris- 
on authorities. There has for several years 
been a distinct change in the attitude of pub- 
lic sentiment. Not that time has softened the 
general indignation at the crime or crimes of 
which they were guilty. But the men them- 
selves have changed. They are not the Young- 
er boys who nearly twenty-five years ago be- 
i6 



[242] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

longed to the gang of highwaymen and des- 
peradoes who raided Northfield, undertook to 
rob a bank there, and shot the cashier in cold 
blood. They are called by the same name. But 
they are not the same persons. They are whol- 
ly different from the Younger boys of 1876 in 
character, in all that constitutes moral person- 
ality. 

"The change is not one of metamorphosis, 
however. It is a change of development. For 
it has become evident that these men were 
not radically vicious or depraved, that in their 
normal elements of character they were brave 
and kind and just and generous and loyal- 
hearted. They were led astray by their asso- 
ciations, by the fierce passions aroused by the 
partisan warfare, in which they became involv- 
ed in the conflict of parties during the Civil 
War in Missouri. In those perturbed times, 
to the adventurous impetuosity of youth the 
steps were short from soldiers to guerillas, and 
from hunted proscribed guerillas to highway- 
men and freebooters. It was the merciless pol- 
itics of the period that made them outlaws. 

"A quarter of a century has passed since 
then. The wild, hot-blooded boys have become 
old men. But when the prison doors shut out 




MAJOR JOHN L. BITTINGER, 
Of St. Joseph. 



[245] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

the past and they bade the world good-bye 
forever, they seem to have bidden farewell 
also to all the devils in their blood. For their 
conduct from the first has been exemplary. 
Reformation was not difficult for them. They 
have simply acted out their natural impulses, 
which were those of honest, sincere, and loyal 
gentlemen. Those who knew them most in- 
timately are those who esteem them most high- 
ly. The uniform testimony of all the prison 
wardens is not merely to their good behavior 
— their record in this respect being without 
a blemish during twenty-five years — but to 
the good character which prompted their good 
behavior. 

"There need be no fear that these men will 
break their parole or do anything to disappoint 
the confidence of their friends. There is noth- 
ing of the sneak or hypocrite about them. They 
are ten times better men than most of those 
whose unrelenting vindictiveness would have 
denied to their declining years the poor solace 
of being prisoners on parole." 



CHAPTER 25. 
The Release. 

THE following telegram to the Kan- 
sas City Star of July 11th, by its 
special correspondent, gives a 
graphic account of the conversa- 
tion and scenes when I reached the prison : 

*T said I'd be the first Missourian to shake 
hands with you, Cole," said Captain Bronaugh, 
who was having some difficulty in restraining 
his emotions. 

"You sure are," said Cole, and they shook 
hands again. 

"When did you come up?" Cole asked. 

"Monday," said Bronaugh, "but I have been 
keeping quiet." 

"Well, I reckon (Cole Younger habitually 
says "I reckon") you'll keep your promise and 
walk down the prison steps between us?" 

"You bet I will, and I would have waited 
twenty-five years more to do it." 

"Reckon they know all about it up in St. 
Paul?" Cole queried. 

"Yes, got extra papers with it in." 

[246] 



[247] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

"Reckon they know it in Jackson." 

"Yes, you bet." 

Cole chuckled again, his grin broadening un- 
til it almost reached his ears. 

"When are you going out?" his friend ask- 
ed next. 

"Reckon not until to-morrow ; you know we 
have not heard anything officially yet. Bron- 
augh, did you send any telegrams to Missou- 
ri?" 

"Lot of 'em, and not a one to anybody that 
was not your friend," 

"I sent one myself," said Cole. 

"Who to?" 

"Lizzie Daniels, down at Harrisonville. You 
know I knew her when she was a little child — 
so high. She's a noble girl, too," and then he 
added with another chuckle, "Good Methodist, 
too." 

"How's everybody? How's Dr. McClure? 
Have you seen him lately Bronaugh?" 

Bronaugh said Dr. McClure was all right, 
and just then Jim Younger, clothed in a neat 
suit of gray, walked into the room. His clothes 
were the prison uniform, but they were ex- 
tremely neat and fitted his form so closely that 
he looked like a big infantry sergeant. 



[248] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

"Hello, Bronau^^h." 

"Hello." 

"When did you get in ?" 

"I came in to get you out." 

Jim shook hands all around and then the 
three fell to talking about the parole and what 
the requirements would be. A St. Paul re- 
porter said he would return later and get an 
interview. 

"Better get all your interviews now, sonny, 
I reckon," said Cole, "because when I leave the 
prison I'm never going to be interviewed by 
any reporters. — I am done with interviews. 
Mind you, I ain't got nothing against any re- 
porter or any newspaper or anybody, but, 
boys, the past is dead to me." 

The old convict lifted his eyes toward the 
ceiling. There was a tinge of reverence in his 
voice. "The past is dead to me. When I go 
out of prison walls, I go out a changed man. 
No, get all you interviews now, for when I go 
out my lips are sealed." 

His eyes flashed from one to the other of 
the group. To men standing about him, there 
was no doubt that he meant what he said. 

"But we want to see how you will take the 
open air," several reporters remarked. 



[249] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

''That'll be all right, boys," said Cole. 
''Things will be new to me. You see I've been 
here a powerful long time and I reckon there 
have been changes. That'll be all right, but 
nothing about prison or the past." 

An hour after the Youngers were notified of 
their parole yesterday, Capt. Bronaugh, of Mis- 
souri, and the reporters arrived at the prison. 
Deputy Warden Jack Glennon, who used to 
play in the old Comique Theater, in Kansas 
City, said he would take the responsibility of 
showing the visitors into the prison and allow- 
ing them a conversation with Cole and Jim. 
The visitors had scarcely entered the Deputy 
warden's office when Cole Younger's big 
form filled the door. His usually florid face 
was pale and the lack of color accentuated the 
freckles that set off his cheeks and forehead. 
He glanced quickly from one to another of the 
group and then almost springing forward he 
grasped Capt. Bronaugh's hands. 

"Well, well, well," was the exclamation 
from the two, as they stood shaking each oth- 
er's hands. 

"How is it, Bronaugh ?" Cole asked. 

"It's all right, Cole, all right, old man," re- 
plied Bronaugh. 



[250] 
TJie Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

Neither seemed able to think of anything to 
say, except, "Well ! Well !" and "It's all right." 

Finally a broad grin stole across Cole's face 
and he reached for the hand of the reporter for 
the Star. 

"And how's everything in old Jackson coun- 
ty?" he asked. 

"Jackson's all right. How are you feeling?" 

Younger had held the reporter's hand so 
tightly in his giant grasp that almost all the 
fingers were aching. 

"I feel just like a Methodist," Cole said fin- 
ally. "You know, when Methodists begin to 
feel good they want to shake hands with every- 
body. I feel like shaking hands with the whole 
world. As I stand here today, I ain't got a 
grudge against any human being alive or dead. 
Men, I'm happy." 

The color came back to the big man's face 
and he chuckled until his fat sides shook. 

"You told me seventeen years ago, Bron- 
augh," he continued, "that all we had to do 
was to live and be good and some day we 
would get out. It's come, and it's surely a hap- 
py day." 

Turning to the reporters he said: "Bron- 
augh's a Methodist — regular old hand-shaker 



[251] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

himself. Shake again, Bronaugh," and Bron- 
augh shook. 

At ten o'clock Sunday morning, the Young- 
er brothers were released. Immediately after 
chapel services while Cole Younger — head 
nurse — was at his accustomed post in the 
prison hospital, and Jim — librarian and post- 
man, was in the library — each was informed 
that he was wanted "down in front." They 
supposed that they were to see a visitor in the 
reception room. But the brothers met a de- 
puty warden, who handed them each a suit of 
civilian clothes and a telescope grip. "Put 
these clothes on," said the warden. And he 
added, "You won't have to go back." 

The brothers put the clothes on without de- 
lay. Then they walked down in town in com- 
pany with local newspaper men. Few people 
recognized Cole and Jim. After dinner at the 
prison office, the brothers. Warden Wolfer and 
others enjoyed a naphtha launch excursion on 
Lake St. Croix. 

When the Youngers had changed their 
clothes they walked leisurely into the recep- 
tion room, somewhat to the surprise of sever- 
al newspaper correspondents, who hurried 
away to spread the news. Cole and Jim 



[252] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

strolled out of the main entrance of the prison, 
and walked down town for the first time in 
twenty-five years. 

It was a hot day in Stillwater yesterday, but 
the Youngers didn't look for the shady side of 
the street and they never mentioned the weath- 
er. The brothers walked a block without say- 
ing- a word. Then somebody inquired : 

"What do you think of it, Cole?" 

"Well," replied the big fellow earnestly, "I 
thank heaven for this, and the friends that did 
so much to help us." 

"I don't know what I thought," said Jim 
afterwards. I've been keeping my feelings in 
check so long, ready to meet anything, that 
I'm afraid I didn't let myself out. But it 
didn't hurt me a bit." 

Cole, the taller and larger of the two, wore 
a dark blue serge suit, a blue and white shirt, 
a white turn-down collar, a gray silk four-in- 
hand tie, a black felt hat, with wide brim, and 
calf shoes. Jim's suit was dark gray, his shirt 
pink and Avhite, his four-in-hand a blue polka- 
dot, his hat a Fedora straw. 

The brothers passed a former guard at the 
prison. He had seen them daily year after 
year. But yesterday he did not recognize 




UNITED STATES SENATOR WILLIAM J. STONE. 



[255] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

them. They passed a physician who had prac- 
ticed in the prison hospital for ten years. Cole, 
who has himself, as head nurse, administered 
thousands of the doctor's prescriptions, touch- 
ed him on the sleeve. He glanced up, but did 
not know the brothers in their unusual role. 
Very few persons, indeed, that the Youngers 
met in the town where they have been earnest- 
ly discussed for a quarter of a century, recog- 
nized the men whose fortunes had proved so 
interesting. The party entered a cigar store 
and somebody whispered, "It's Cole and Jim." 
The front door proved at once inadequate for 
the demands of the traffic, and the brothers 
liurried out to escape the crowd. 

Returning to the prison after half an hour's 
absence, the Youngers lunched with Represen- 
tative J. W. Phillips, of Minneapolis, in the 
Warden's dining-room. 

At one o'clock the Youngers, Warden Wolf- 
er, Deputy Warden Glennon, and Superintend- 
ent Kilbourne, of the Rochester Hospital for 
the Insane, took a boat ride on Lake St. Croix, 
as guests of R. H. Brunson, Vice-President of 
the First National Bank of Stillwater and the 
local member of the State's Prison Board of 
Managers. The party passed more than three 
hours on the la^ke. 



[256] 
I'he Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

'Tm afraid we broke our parole," said Cole, 
'*by getting across the middle of the lake into 
Wisconsin." 

But when Jim steered the boat during a 
good part of the trip, she kept close to the 
Minnesota shore. Mr. Brunson had a small 
rifle abroad, with which several of the passen- 
gers came near hitting things. But Cole and 
Jim didn't fire a shot. 

''I tell you," declared Cole, smiling his 
cheeriest, after the trip had ended, "It was the 
finest outing I ever had in my life. Wasn't 
it, lim?" 



CHAPTER 26. 
The Parole Bill. 

THE following- is the full text of the 
parole agreement: 
"Know All Men by These Pre- 
sents : That the Board of Mana- 
gers. of the Minnesota wState Prison, desiring to 
test the ability of T. C. Younger, an inmate of 
said prison, to refrain from crime and lead an 
honorable life, do, by virtue of the authority 
conferred upon them by law, hereby parole 
the said T. C. Younger, and allow him to go 
on parole outside the buildings and enclosure 
of said prison, but not outside of the State of 
Minnesota, subject, however, to the following 
rules, regulations and conditions, as made and 
provided by law, and by the rules governing 
the conduct of life prisoners while on parole : 

"First. He shall not exhibit himself in any 
dime museum, circus, theater, opera-house, or 
any other place of public amusement or as- 
sembly, where a charge is made for admission. 

"Second. He shall proceed at once to the 
place of employment provided for him, and 
there remain until further orders. 

[257] 
17 



[258] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

"Third. In case he finds it desirable to 
change his place of employment or residence, 
he shall first obtain a written consent of the 
said Board of Manag-ers, through the Warden 
of said State Prison. 

"Fourth. He shall, on the twentieth day of 
each month, write the Warden of said State 
Prison, a report of himself, stating whether he 
had been constantly at work during the last 
month, and, if not, why not ; how much he has 
earned, and how much he has expended, to- 
gether with a general statement as to his sur- 
roundings and prospects, which must be en- 
dorsed by his employer. 

"Fifth. He shall in all respects conduct him- 
self honestly, avoid evil associations, obey the 
law, and abstain from the use of intoxicating 
liquors. 

"Sixth. As soon as possible after reaching 

his destination he shall report to , 

show him his parole, and at once enter upon 
the employment provided for him. 

"Seventh. He shall while on parole remain 
in the legal custody and under the control of 
said Board of Managers. 

"Eighth. He shall be liable to be retaken 



[259] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

and again confined within the inclosure of said 
State Prison for any reason that shall be sat- 
isfactory to the Board of Managers, and at 
their sole discretion. 

"Ninth. This parole to take effect and be 
in force only upon the unanimous consent and 
approval of the members of the State Board of 
Pardons, expressed in writing. 

"The management of said State Prison has 
a lively interest in the subject of this parole, 
and he need not fear or hesitate to freely com- 
municate with the warden, in case he loses his 
situation, or becomes unable to labor by rea- 
son of sickness or other disability. 

"Given in duplicate this 6th day of June, 
190*1, by the managers Minnesota state prison. 
"F. W. Temple, "E. W. Wing, 
"B. F. Nelson, "R. H. Bronson. 
"A. C. Weiss, 
"Countersigned : Henry Wolfer, Warden. 
"We hereby severally consent to this parole 
on the conditions therein named. 
"Dated July 10, 1901. 

"S. R. Van Sant, Governor. 

"Charles M. Start, 

"Chief Justice Supreme Court. 

"Wallace B. Douglass, 

"Attorney General." 



[260] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

The contracts applying to the two brothers 
are identically the same with the exception of 
their respective names. The considerations 
which actuated the members of the board in 
their determination of this important question 
are set forth in the following statement, which 
was given out at the time the decision was an- 
nounced : 

"Upon principle and judicial authority, we 
are satisfied that chapter 234 of the Laws of 
1901 became law, although not approved by the 
Governor. We also recognize that it is the ex- 
clusive province of the legislature to extend 
the parole system to life convicts, and it has 
done so subject to certain conditions and lim- 
itations. We are satisfied that the petitioners 
in this case have, by exceptionally good con- 
duct in prison for a quarter of a century, and 
the evidence they have given of sincere reform- 
ation, earned the right to a parole if any life 
prisoner can do so. The question of the pro- 
priety of extending the parole system to life 
convicts is not for us, but has been determin- 
ed by the legislature, and we are supposed to 
give effect to their declared purpose. The evi- 
dence presented establishes the facts that the 
petitioners are entitled to a parole under the 



[261] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

provisions of the law. In view of these facts, 
we must either consent to their parole or arbi- 
trarily refuse to give effect to the act. 

"It is doubtful whether the duty of acting 
in the matter of paroling prisoners can consti- 
tutionally be imposed by the legislature upon 
the Chief Justice as a member of the Board of 
Pardons, but, in view of the great importance 
of the question at this time, we pass this par- 
ticular point by. 

"S. R. Van Sant, 

"Governor. 

"Charles M. Start, 
"Chief Justice Supreme Court. 
"Wallace B. Douglass, 
"Attorney General. 
"Dated July 10', 1901." 



CHAPTER 27. 
After Stillwater. 

JULY 16th the Youngers and I were en- 
tertained at the splendid residence of 
E. J. Schurmeier, No. 99 East Center 
avenue, St. Paul. The dinner was a 
most sumptuous one in every appointment and 
particular. Among the ladies and gentlemen 
at the table were Mr. and Mrs. Schurmeier, Mr. 
and Mrs. Grewe, Cole and Jim Younger, B. 
G. Yates and myself. The party were all in a 
happy frame of mind and indulged freely and 
interestingly in jest, anecdote, and reminis- 
cence. 

Mrs. Schurmeier and her sister, Mrs. Grewe, 
were daughters of Dr. Bradford, and formerly 
resided at Neosho, Newton county, Mo. 

The courtly and gallant Yates and Jim 
Younger sat beside each other at the table. 

Yates, it will be remenibered, was one of the 
men under command of Captain Murphy who 
dared to face the fugitives near Madelia. In 
the final struggle Yates shot Jim and the load 
of lead tore through the latter's cheek and up- 
per jaw, knocking out the teeth and fracturing 

[262] 




JAMES H. CAMPBELL, 

President Campbell Live Stock Company, 

St. Louis, Missouri. 



[265] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

the bone. Men would think from this that 
these men would be enemies. But not so. Jim, 
at that meal, which was as fine repast as money 
could buy, could only swallow liquid food as 
a result of the injury sustained at the hands of 
the man beside him. After some hesitation 
Capt. Yates spoke of that scene in 1876. "Do 
you remember, Jim," said he, "that day after 
the fight, when I knelt beside you, wiped the 
blood away from your mouth and endeavored 
to bandage your mangled face?" 
"Yes," said Jim, "I remember." 
Then the two shook hands in a brotherly 
manner, while a tear glistened in the brave 
captain's eye. 

The next afternoon, shortly before my de- 
parture for home, Cole Younger and I made a 
hurried call at the offices of various St. Paul 
newspapers and thanked the editors and pro- 
prietors for the courtesies they had extended 
us. We also visited various state officials and 
acknowledged our indebtedness to them. 

Soon after the parole of the Youngers it de- 
veloped that their efforts to obtain freedom 
came very near failing at the last minute. Their 
friends had reckoned all along that Governor 
Van Sant was clearly in favor of clemency to- 



[266J 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

ward the prisoners and that Charles M. Start, 
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, would 
prove the stumbling block if the parole were 
contested. However, at the supreme moment, 
it is said Governor Van Sant was the one mem- 
ber of the pardoning board who held back, 
and it is asserted that he came near to abso- 
lutely refusing his signature to it. The Gov- 
ernor did not finally afifix his name to the par- 
ole until assured that the men would be im- 
mediately placed in positions outside the pris- 
on and that their introduction to the outer 
world would be attended by the least publicity 
and ostentation possible. With the promise 
of the prison agent and the warden that the ac- 
tual release of Cole and Jim Younger would be 
accomplished secretly and that no newspaper 
reporters would be allowed to attend the 
"dressing out" ceremony, the Governor finally 
signed the bill. 

A remarkable amount of politics cropped out 
of the episode and it is said that the chairman 
of the Republican state committee telephoned 
Governor Van Sant at the supreme moment, 
almost demanding that he sign the parole. An 
overpowering influence was brought to bear 
on the state's executive to secure the release of 



[267] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

the prisoners. United States senators, govern- 
ors, congressmen, judges of the supreme 
courts, and poHticians from various states and 
territories sent letters urging clem'ency. These 
letters, I feel proud to say, were secured by 
my own personal exertions. 

Among them were the following: 

Judge Leroy B. Valliant, of the Missouri Su- 
preme Court, to Hon. Charles M. Start, Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court of Minnesota : 

"Permit me to say a few words in behalf 
of two Missourians now in the penitentiary of 
your state, viz. : Coleman and James Younger. 

*'The petitions that have gone from this state 
to officials in your state in their behalf are sign- 
ed by persons whose opinion of the crimes foi 
which these men were convicted is not in any 
degree different from that which the people of 
Minnesota entertain ; but when it comes to the 
consideration of the question of what mercy is 
to be shown them, it may be that some of these 
petitioners better understand the circumstances 
under which the Youngers became perverted 
than your people. 

"Missouri was a border state, and the Civil 



[268] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

War was here not merely a strife between par- 
ties or sections, but between divided neighbors 
and kindred ; not merely a war of battles in 
the field, but on the very threshold and under 
the roofs of their homes; not between armies 
only, but the blood that flowed was often that 
of old men, women and children. 

"Think of boys leaving home at the most 
impressionable age, and passing four years of 
their youth in such a strife, and who can won- 
der that the bad in them developed to the de- 
gree of obscuring the good, and that they 
seemed for a time altogether bad. But that the 
good in them, though hidden, was not destroy- 
ed, and that it has developed and grown until 
now they are esteemed by many good people 
in your state, who know them better than any- 
one else, you have the proof at your own home ; 
and that there are those in Missouri who knew 
them in their youth and never lost hope for 
the development of their better natures, the pe- 
titions that have been laid before you show. 

''If the conduct of these men has been such 
as we in Missouri have understood it to have 
been while in prison, and they have grown into 
moral and Christian men, then they are the 
very kind of men to whom humanity and 



[269] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

Christianity ought to hold out the hand of par- 
don. 

"I believe it would have a wholesome, moral 
influence on the public, both in your state and 
Missouri, if the Youngers were now granted a 
pardon, and I also believe that it would forever 
be a pleasing reflection to those who do the 
good deed." 



Capt. A. A. Lesueur, Secretary of State of 
Missouri, and now a leading banker in Okla- 
homa, addressed the Board of Pardons : 

"I understand that there is an effort being 
made to secure at your hands the pardon of 
Coleman and James Younger. They have been 
in your penitentiary for over twenty years, and 
I am told have been model prisoners. It is the 
belief entertained by many of the best citizens 
of Missouri that their crimes, which are in no 
manner excused or condoned, grew out of the 
unfortunate conditions following a period of 
internecine Avar. I have been led to believe 
that the Coleman and James Younger of to- 
day, by reason of reading and reflection, not to 
say anything of advancing years, are absolute- 
ly and entirely different persons from those 
who were convicted. It is my belief that if 



[270] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

they are released they will return to Missouri 
to become good and honorable citizens, and 
that no injurious result will follow. In twenty 
years of incarceration they have not only had 
time to reflect and learn, but they have cer- 
tainly expiated their crime." 



Chief Justice J. B. Gantt, of the Missouri 
Supreme Court, wrote to Chief Justice Charles 
M. Start, of the Minnesota Supreme Court : 

"Personal friends of mine, for whose opin- 
ion and judgment I have the highest regard, 
have sought my good oflices in behalf of Cole- 
man and James Younger. I never knew either 
of the prisoners, but in a residence of nearly 
thirty years have learned the character of their 
kinsmen in this state, and can assure you they 
are a law-abiding, worthy people. 

"Without extenuating in the least the crime 
for which they are paying the penalty, in view 
of their long imprisonment and of their excel- 
lent behavior during all that time, I do not 
hesitate to say that I feel that this is a case in 
which the pardoning power can properly be 
exercised. 

"I believe the law has been vindicated and 
that no good purpose can be subserved by their 
further imprisonment. 



[271] 
The Youngcrs" Fight for Freedom. 

"Knowing the condition of the borderland 
between the North and South at the close of 
the war, and that there were terrible provoca- 
tions on both sides, I think I know the causes 
which led these young men to desperate deeds, 
and that while I stand for the law I can par- 
don human infirmities. Believing they have 
been taught the full majesty of the law, and 
having assurances that they will in the future 
live the lives of good citizens, I commend them 
to the clemency of the Board of Pardons of 
vour state." 



Hon. James M. Seibert, then State Auditor 
of Missouri, and since Excise Commissioner of 
St. Louis, addressed the Board : 

"My personal friend, W. C. Bronaugh, a rep- 
resentative and highly respected citizen of the 
State of Missouri, informs me that he expects 
to call upon you soon with a view to securing 
executive clemency in behalf of Coleman and 
James Younger. 

"The good people of Missouri condemn with 
one accord the crime of which these men were 
convicted, yet I am sure a very great majority 
of them feel that the Youngers have now been 
sufficiently punished and that the majesty of 



[272] 
The Yoiingers' Fight for Freedom, 

your law, in their case, has been fully vindicat- 
ed. Our people, regardless of condition or 
party affiliation, I believe, would applaud any 
act of yours extending to these unfortunate 
men the mercy of executive clemency. Such, 
at least, is the idea I get from the utterances of 
our prominent citizens and the public press. 

"Our people are unwilling that any criminal 
should go unwhipped of justice, as much so in 
Minnesota as in their own state. They do not 
believe, however, that these men, if pardoned, 
would again be dangerous to society. They are 
now broken in spirit and body and if there be 
any efficiency in penal servitude as a means 
of reformation, twenty years certainly ought 
to have accomplished all the results obtainable 
through such instrumentality. 

"Mr. Bronaugh is fully conversant with the 
circumstances attending the commission of 
the crime of which they were convicted, their 
antecedents here in Missouri, and their pres- 
ent condition, and will present, fully and in 
detail, their claims to executive clemency. He 
is a gentleman of the strictest sense of honor, 
has thoroughly at heart the best interests of 
society, and I bespeak for the representations 
he may make to you your earnest considera- 
tion." 




UNITED STATES SENATOR G. G. VEST. 



18 



CHAPTER 28. 
Magnitude of the Task. 

THE character and magnitude of my 
undertaking, which resulted in the 
parole of Cole and Jim Younger, 
followed by the absolute pardon of 
Cole, for Jim had died in the meantime by his 
own hand, is shown in part by the large 
amount of correspondence it involved, a great 
deal of which is still in my possession. This 
correspondence was carried on with many 
persons in various towns and cities, states and 
territories and shows the deep and widespread 
interest which had been aroused in behalf of 
the Youngers. To publish even half of these 
letters would require a large volume and many 
of them would be of little interest to the gen- 
eral reader, so I shall attempt to make use of 
the extracts from only a few of them. 



Mrs. L. W. Twyman, of Jackson county, 
Missouri, an aunt of the prisoners, entered 
earnestly into the work and wrote to me often. 
In a letter dated June 27, 1897, she says : 

[275] 



[276] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

"I fully appreciate your kindness in the past. 
I feel that God will bless you for all you have 
done, and are still doing for the Younger boys. 
You have been their best friend in all their 
troubles. I do hope you will succeed in get- 
ting them pardoned. You have been a broth- 
er to the boys, and they will and do owe you 
a lifetime gratitude. I hope they will never 
forget your kindness. They have not written to 
me for years. I did all I could for them and 
am willing to do all I can whether they appre- 
ciate it or not. I hope God will spare my life 
to see or know they are free men once more. 
May God bless you and yours, is the prayer of 
your true friend." 



The Reverend J. H. Albert, who for eleven 
years was the Protestant chaplain at the Still- 
water penitentiary, and who was greatly be- 
loved by the three Youngers, became concern- 
ed as to their release. October 4, 1893, he 
wrote me: 

"You will probably remember me as Pro- 
testant chaplain of the state prison here. 

"I take the liberty of writing you on my 
own responsibility in behalf of the Younger 



[277] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

brothers. I am anxious to see them out. I 
know that you will do all for them you can, 
but can anything be done for them now? They 
have the impression that there is something 
being done and that the prospects are favora- 
ble. Now, I do not ask to know any of your 
plans, or what has been or is being done. I 
have no right to, and it would probably be bet- 
ter I should not know, but can I encourage 
them to expect something? You have no idea 
how w^earing is the strain in one in prison to 
be half expecting, and yet time goes on with- 
out his hearing anything. You can't imagine 
how hard it is to meet such a one, week after 
week, with the same anxious and fading hope. 
I come home some nights after a visit to the 
prison almost broken up. 

"Do not mention to them that I have writ- 
ten you, but do please tell me if I may encour- 
age them to hope." 



State Auditor Dunn, of Minnesota, was one 
of the early and indefatigable advocates of 
pardon. In a letter of March 22, 1897, he 
says: 

"Rest assured you have my heartfelt sympa- 
thy and I will do everything in my power to 



[278] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

assist you, and I sincerely hope that ere many 
weeks roll around, the boys will again breath 
the air of freedom in old Missouri." 



October 20, 1898, came a letter from Henry 
W. Ashton, a prominent Chicago lawyer : 

"I am informed that you are a friend to Cole- 
man and James Younger, and that you have 
been interested in endeavoring to secure a par- 
don for them. I believe that I am in a position 
to do them some good. I do not wish any re- 
muneration in any way of money for what I 
may do. What I wish to do is to get in com- 
munication with some of the friends of the un- 
fortunate men. In case you are not interested 
in the matter of helping them, please inform 
me if you know who is." 



B. G. Yates, Superintendent of the Ameri- 
can District Telegraph Company, at St. Paul, 
who was one of the heroes at the capture of 
the Youngers, was an ardent worker and 
wrote me many letters. July 30, 1899, he said : 

"When our legislature meets again we will 
canvass every man for his influence in this 



[279] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

matter. I fear, however, we will have to get 
a new Governor before anything can be ac- 
complished." 



Warden Henry Wolfer, of Stillwater, was 
among the most active adherents of the 
Youngers, and the influence he exerted to ac- 
complish their release was as potent perhaps, 
as that of any other person. June 9, 1897, he 
wrote me : 

"I received both of your letters of the 17th 
and 20th of May. I was absent in North Da- 
kota on a visit when they were received at 
this office. I would have replied sooner, but 
I desired to wait until after the regular month- 
ly meeting of our board of managers, which 
occurred yesterday. I requested some official 
action on the part of the board in behalf of 
the Younger brothers, and desire to inform 
you of the result, hence the delay. I am glad 
to be able to inform you at this writing, that 
the board of managers have promised me that 
they will visit the Governor's office in an offi- 
cial body on the date of the meeting of the 
Board of Pardons, and do and say all they can 
in favor of pardon for the boys. This will have 



[280] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

considerable weight with the Board of Par- 
dons. If 1 can possibly do so, I am going to 
get Judge Start over here on the 4th of July 
to deliver the 4th of July oration, and I will see 
that he has a good long interview with the boys 
and that he is favorably impressed in every 
way, if it is possible to accomplish it. I shall 
also see all the editors of the Twin Cities' pap- 
ers in the meantime and try to obtain their 
favorable co-operation, but presume it will be 
hard to control some of them. There is noth- 
ing like trying to do so, however. You may 
rely upon me doing everything in my power to 
help this matter to a successful issue, and I 
hope with all my heart we shall succeed." 



George W. Bennett, a well-known lawyer of 
Minneapolis, did a good deal of efifective work 
and wrote me several letters. Soon after war 
had been declared between Spain and the 
United States, in 1898, he fathered a rather 
fantastic scheme for the liberation of Cole 
Younger. In a letter to me, dated about this 
time, he proposed that he should see Gen. 
Fitzhugh Lee and Gen. Joseph Wheeler and 
secure their influence toward the end that 
Cole might be released in order to serve under 



[281] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

Lee or Wheeler, as they might desire the ser- 
vices of such an experienced soldier. This idea 
was chimerical, to say the least, and resulted 
in nothing. 

At this time Bennett wrote me, also, that 
Cole had informed him Denman Thompson, 
the actor, of "Old Homestead" fame and for- 
tune, had volunteered to assist him financially. 

As a matter of fact, Mr. Thompson did do 
this in a rather unexpected way. Being in St. 
Louis one day and having heard he was a 
great friend of the Youngers, I called on him 
at the Southern Hotel, where he was stopping, 
and we privately talked the matter over to- 
gether. The kind-hearted actor then gave me 
one hundred dollars in cash to be devoted to- 
ward the release of the Younger brothers. He 
also cordially invited me to visit his play at 
Havlin's Theatre that evening. I did so, and 
never enjoyed myself more on any similar oc- 
casion. 



Hon. Geo. P. Wilson, ex-state senator and 
former attorney-general of Minnesota, wrote 
me as follows : 

"Dear Sir : Your Kansas City letter just re- 
ceived. Where in Missouri, the lawver lived 



[282] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

who wrote Gov. V. protesting against the par- 
don of the Youngers I do not know, but as- 
suming that, it came from SedaHa, I think it 
could certainly do no harm and might do good 
to get the letter from bankers to which you 
refer. Gov. V. is now, or will be toda}^ and 
for a week, in Buffalo helping to celebrate 
Minnesota day, so that ex-Governor Stone's 
letter will be in ample time. Moreover, I do 
not expect any action will be taken before the 
regular meeting in July. We will do what we 
can at this end of the line. I am very hopeful. 
I do not know what encouragement Mr. Nel- 
son gave you and Miss Mueller. Will you be 
up at July meeting? If so, T hope to meet you 
again. 

^'Respectfully yours, 

"Geo. P. Wilson." 




JUDGE JOHN F. PHILIPS. 



CHAPTER 29. 
A Romance Prior to Northfield. 

AMONGST the mass of correspon- 
dence in my possession is aromance 
out of the raid on the Northfield 
bank. Novelists and playwrights succeed in 
best entertaining the public by skillully inter- 
mingling the elements of romance and tragedy, 
drawn from real or imaginary sources. The 
golden threads of love are woven with thedark 
skeins of intrigue, conspiracy and blood. "Fact 
is stranger than action," and ever has been so 
the world over. On this foundation are built 
the books and the plays that thrill and en- 
thrall. 

According to Cole Younger's statement to 
reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer, he and 
his companions made their rendezvous at the 
little town of St. Peters, Minnesota, for some 
days before their descent upon Northfield, in 
(September, 1876. At any rate, Cole remained 
there a week or more and it was during that 
time that he became acquainted with a little 
girl bearing the odd name of Horace Greeley 

[285] 



[286] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

Perry. Her parents resided at St. Peter. Mr. 
Perry, himself an editor, was an ardent admir- 
er of the great journalist, Horace Greeley. Not 
having a son to name in honor of the New 
Yorker, it was determined to bestow that 
name upon the little daughter. And so she 
bears it to this day. 

Cole Younger became very much attached 
to her and was in the habit of taking her with 
him in his daily rides into the country. Little 
Miss Horace Greeley showed great fondness 
for her newly-made acquaintance, and neither 
she nor any other resident in that neighbor- 
hood suspected for a moment the identity of 
the stranger who was so modest and gentle 
and affectionate, especially toward his little 
friend. 

Time rolled 'round rapidly. The disastrous 
Northfield raid had been made and the Young- 
ers Avere behind iron bars at Stillwater. The 
little girl had grown almost to womanhood, 
and, following the profession of her father, 
had become "Editress and Publisher" of the 
St. Peter Journal, the official paper of the coun- 
ty. Those fair and refreshing days, back in 
her happy childhood, when she rode with the 
gallant stranger along the country lanes, may 



[287] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

have come back to her often and anon, but 
she had never known his real name. She had 
never more heard of him. Was he living? Was 
he dead? Into what far land had he ridden? 
These inquiries may not unreasonably have 
arisen in those reminiscent moods that take 
possession of us at times and bring joy or sor- 
row. Especially must this have been true of 
Miss Perry, for she was of an impressionable 
nature, and like any other girl would fall un- 
der the fascinating influence of a strange 
meeting like this. 

I do not remember what year it was that 
Miss Perry first met Cole Younger while he 
was in prison, but she recognized him at once 
and the friendship begun at St. Peter was re- 
newed. There and then the fair young "edi- 
tress" decided to devote herself to the libera- 
tion of the Youngers, by using the columns of 
her paper and also making personal appeals. 
When she found that I was engaged in the 
same enterprise, she entered into a correspond- 
ence with me. In a letter dated January 26, 
1894, she wrote : 

"I am in receipt of your letter and the pho- 
tos and I assure you I am more than pleased 
to receive both, and return thanks for same. 



[288] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

Yes, Mr. Bronaugh, I think a great deal of 
Cole, and if there is anything possible for me 
to do to assist him and his brother I would 
sacrifice a great deal to do it. For some rea- 
son the warden of the prison has cut ofif com- 
munications between Cole and myself for what 
reason I do not know, unless it was because I 
wrote Cole that when he got out he and I 
would enter into a partnership and conduct 
my paper together. I am glad that the boys 
have so good a friend as you are and I trust 
you will never lose your interest in them. 

"Mr. Bronaugh, I am glad that you have not 
misconstrued my friendship and motives to 
aid the boys. I assure you it is the best and 
purest friendship that one can offer another. 
I could not say positively, but I believe that 
the Warden or someone else has carelessly 
said that Cole's regard for me was something 
more than friendship, for one of our old edi- 
tors who always poses as my good 'daddy,' 
wrote me from St. Cloud and said that it was 
all right for me to sympathize with Cole, but 
he drew the line when he found that Cole had 
another idea, and that it was all right while 
he was in there, but he was liable to get out 
some day, etc., etc. 



[289] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

"1 do love Cole very much, but in friendship 
only, and it is very wrong- for the Warden to 
misconstrue my motives. He might be a good 
deal more favorable if he v^anted to, but since 
I have editorially denounced him as an unfit 
man for the care of God's most unfortunate 
creatures, he has ceased to favor anyone 
whom I like up there. Cole can tell you that. 
But I am a very good friend of Gov. Nelson 
and so Mr. Warden allows me a great many 
privileges against his will ; besides, the 'press' 
is quick to retaliate, and I have already gained 
an enviable reputation of being fearless in 
'opening up state officials.' 

"I am at work now securing the pardon of 
a young man, who is in for fifteen years for 
murder. He is of one of the wealthiest and 
best families in Minneapolis, but his father has 
assigned the task to me and I believe that I 
will be very successful. I shall ask for a par- 
don, not a parole. Now, Mr. Bronaugh, I have 
written more of a letter than I intended to, 
and perhaps said many things of no interest to 
you, but I am sure you will pardon that. I re- 
ceived a letter signed 'Ex-Member, M. S. P.,' 
requesting me to see J. A. Westby today. Mr. 
Bronaugh, I shall be delighted beyond meas- 
ure to receive your picture, your wife's and 
19 



[290] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

little one's and shall be glad to reciprocate 
when mine are finished. Send them as soon 
as you can and let me hear from you occasion- 
ally regarding the boys and the hope of par- 
don. If I can render any assistance do not 
hesitate to ask it." 

To show Miss Perry's sympathetic disposi- 
tion and traits of tenderness, the following is 
an extract from a letter she wrote me Decem- 
ber 7, 1896 : 

"I was going to work this morning and saw 
the birds so free and happy. My thoughts flew 
right to a couple of prison cells up at Still- 
water, and you may believe me or not, I could 
not hold back the unhidden tears. I tell you 
\\hy I can sympathize with the boys so much. 
I myself am just like the wild things on the 
hills and I can enjoy myself more in the woods 
alone than anywhere else. To be shut up in 
a parlor is like caging a wild bird and I tell 
you my friend, when you stop to think serious- 
ly of the awfulness of confinement it is a sad 
thing." 

This brave young woman labored diligentl}^ 
till she saw the burning desire of her heart 
gratified and T can truthfully say she gavt me 
much aid and was no small factor in obtaining 
the freedom of the Youngers. 



CHAPTER 30. 
Love and Death. 

SEPTEMBER 13, 1902, I was again 
in St. Paul and the first person I 
called on there was my friend B. 
G. Yates. While conversing- in his office, Jim 
Younger came in unannounced. He was at- 
tired in a handsome light suit and wore a 
jaunty hat. T thought him at that moment 
one of the finest-looking men I had ever seen. 

Mr. Younger invited Capt. Yates and my- 
self to accompany him to his room, a few 
blocks away. We went with him and spent 
an hour or so discussing the subject of an 
absolute pardon for himself and brother. The 
Board of Pardons had recently met, but had 
passed the matter over until another session. 

After our visit with Jim, Yates and I called 
on Cole Younger. I had promised Jim I would 
see him again in the afternoon, and did so. As 
soon as I was ushered into his presence and 
passed a few words with him I found that he 

was desperately in love with Miss , of 

St. Paul They had known each other only 

[291] 



[292] 
The Yonngers' Fight for Freedom, 

a year or two, but their affection was mutual 
and strong. The young lady was a profes- 
sional magazine and newspaper writer, in 
which vocations she was said to make a great 
deal of money ; she was refined and highly ed- 
ucated and had entrance to the best society in 
the city. 

Betrothal followed friendship, and she and 
her lover, according to rumor, desired to be 
married after the parole was granted, but it 
was found that such a union would not be 

legal. Miss then went west and that 

was the last that most people in St. Paul heard 
or knew of her. I had the pleasure of meeting 
her several times and can testify to her cul- 
ture and charming manners. She wrote me a 
number of letters in reference to the release of 
the Youngers, which were models in penman- 
ship and composition. 

The afternoon of the 14th of September I 
spent with Jim at his room. He gave every 
evidence of being greatly depressed, and ap- 
peared utterly broken down in spirit, in hope, 
and in ambition. 

The first position^ given Cole and Jim, after 
the parole, were the P. N. Peterson Granite 
Company, of St. Paul and Stillwater, which 




FORMER GOVERNOR LON V. STEPHENS. 



[295] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

manufactured monuments, etc. Mr. Peterson 
had been personally acquainted with them 
since their first days in prison. The stipulation 
was that their salaries should be sixty dollars 
a month each and expenses. Cole traveled for 
this company until November, 1901, making 
nearly all points in Minnesota. He then return- 
ed to St. Paul and became employed by Ed- 
ward T. and Hubert C. Schurmeier, who had 
done notable work for the pardon, and James 
Nugent, at the Interstate Institute for the care 
of the liquor and morphine habits. After sev- 
eral months there. Cole became an assistant to 
John J. O'Connor, chief of police of St. Paul. 

While traveling for the Peterson Company 
out in the country, with a horse and buggy, 
taking orders for tombstones Jim met with an 
accident which confined him to his bed for 
several weeks. When he recovered he tried his 
hand at writing policies for an insurance com- 
pany, but he was informed that no policy 
written by him would stand as valid or legal. 
This further discouraged him. 

He said to me : 'T reckon a fellow might as 
well cut his throat and be done with it." 

I thought lightly of the remark at the time, 
but Jim was earnestly entertaining the deadly 
idea then. 



[296] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

The morning of October 15, I left St. Paul 
for St. Louis, arriving there the next day. The 
following Sunday afternoon Jim Younger's 
dead body was found in his room at the Rear- 
don Hotel. A bullet hole was above the right 
ear and in his hand was clutched a revolver. 
Poor Jim had committed suicide. 

The remains were brought back to Lee's 
Summit, Jackson county, Missouri, and bur- 
ied beside his brother Bob and other kind- 
red. C. W. Wigginton, O. H. Lewis, H. H. 
McDowell, Sim Whitsett, William Gregg and 
William Lewis were the pall-bearers. There 
was a large attendance of friends and neigbors 
at the funeral, and the services were extraor- 
dinarily impressive. 



CHAPTER 31. 
Cole Younger Returns Home. 

IN February, 1903, a full pardon was 
granted to Thomas Coleman Young- 
er and after a few days spent in 
Minnesota shaping up some business af- 
fairs and bidding friends farewell he 
quietly took a train for Kansas City, Missouri., 
and thence to Lee's Summit, where still resid- 
ed many of his relatives, old neighbors and 
army comrades. His home-coming was one of 
the most interesting events in a long life which 
had been crowded with thrilling and tragic 
incidents dated back to the dark days of 1860, 
when the black clouds of civil conflict rose and 
spread and grew blacker — "Black as the pit 
from pole to pole" — till the whole land was 
thrown into dense shadow of death, destruc- 
tion, and rapine for four years. 

A quarter of a century Cole Younger had 
been imprisoned at Stillwater, Minnesota. He 
had been shut away from all the outer world. 
Changes, marvelous and even miraculous, were 
being made in literature, science, the arts, pol- 
itics, pulpits, and inventions. In that period 

[297] 



[298] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

of twenty-five years the map of the world had 
been changed. Tribes and nations had been 
obliterated or shifted by war and the exigen- 
cies of diplomacy. Here, in the very state of 
his birth, political organizations had risen, 
flourished for a brief season, and passed into 
oblivion. Thousands of miles of railway and 
telegraph had been added to those already in 
operation. Telephones had been stretched out 
into even remote county districts. Rural route 
delivery had been established, and mail was 
being dispensed daily at the farmer's door. 
Cities had been built Avhere, in 1876. there was 
was nothing but barren plain, grassy prairie, 
or thick forest. The whole order of affairs had 
undergone magic transformation. 

Within that quarter of a century of prison 
life a host of the friends and comrades of Cole 
Younger had passed away, his brothers, Bob 
and Jim, among them. And now he was the 
only one to return alive to the scenes of his 
youth and earlier manhood. These neighbor- 
hoods had changed with the rest of the world. 

The old graveyards, with their mossy slabs 
and crumbled monuments, had grown more 
populous, and a new generation of men and 
women had come to take the places of the 



[299] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

departed. Few of the ancient houses were 
standing. Even the old-time rail fences had 
given way to wire. New churches and new 
schoolhouses dotted the land. People traveled 
in trains, in automobiles, and on bicycles, in- 
stead of usingthe clumsy conveyances of twen- 
ty-five years back. Nothing had remained un- 
changed but the eternal hills. 

I met Cole Younger soon after his arrival at 
Lee's Summit, and he accompanied me to Clin- 
ton, Missouri. There he received a most kindly 
welcome from scores of citizens, a few of 
whom had known his father and mother in 
ante-bellum days, and a very few of whom had 
also known the visitor in war times. He seem- 
ed greatly to enjoy the visit, and then he be- 
came my guest for a few days at my home in 
the country. He was a particularly interest- 
ing man, aside from his usual career, and bore 
himself with all the courtesy, politeness, dig- 
nity and refinement that mark the true gentle- 
man. 

On his return to Kansas City, he and Frank 
James, who had been comrades in the Civil 
War, entered into a contract to conduct the 
Cole Younger and Frank James Wild West 
Show. Money was furnished to equip and put 



[300] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

the aggregation on the road, and the attraction 
from the first, it is understood, has been prof- 
itable financially. 

Shortly after Cole Younger returned to Mis- 
souri, it was reported that he had arranged to 
go into the show business in company with 
Frank James. Ex-State Auditor Dunn, of 
Princeton, long a close friend of Cole's, wrote 
him a letter at that time in regard to the mat- 
ter, in which he appealed to Cole to do noth- 
ing which would change the feeling of his 
friends in Minnesota toward him. 

Cole answered that letter and in his reply 
gave the first account of his intentions. 

This letter appeared in the Princeton 
(Minn.) Union, and is as follows : 

"Your letter of recent date was received in 
due time, and I must apologize to you for not 
having answered it before. I have, however, 
been considerably under the weather since my 
return home, having had a severe attack of 
grip and have had very little ambition to get 
around or to attend to business. I have care- 
fully considered the substance of your letter 
and would certainly feel very sorry if I 
though that you believed for a moment that I 
intended to break any promise made to the 
authorities in Minnesota, or to any one else. 



[301] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

"I assure you that I shall keep every prom- 
ise that I have made, and my friends in Minne- 
sota will have no reason to complain of any ac- 
tion which I may take. 

"I do not intend to exhibit myself as an 
actor or participate in any public entertain- 
ment nor do I intend to allow myself to be so 
exhibited. 

"This is the promise that I made and I will 
keep it. 

"I do not believe, however, that the state offi- 
cials in your state, or anybody in Minnesota 
want to prevent me from making an honest 
living. The show with which I will be con- 
nected will in no way refer to my life or the 
life of any of my associates, but will be of an 
educational and moral order, very much like 
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, which, as you 
know, is in every way unobjectionable and has 
always been patronized by good people. 

"When I returned to my home in Missouri 
I found myself broken in health and old age 
rapidly coming on and without any trade or 
occupation. This was not the worst of it, as 
I have aged women relatives who have been 
looking to me to support them but instead of 
being a source of support to them, it looked 



[302] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

as if I had become to them a source of expense 
and a burden. While I have no occupation or 
trade, you will realize that my experience with 
horses and my long army experience in hand- 
ling- bodies of men have in some Avay fitted me 
to be manager of such a show as I have de- 
scribed, and in this way enables me to make 
an honorable and honest living and properly 
support those who. are dependent on me. It 
was with this intention that I have made the 
business arrangement which has been spoken 
of in all the newspapers. It is distinctly stip- 
ulated in my contract that I shall do nothing 
to break the conditions of my pardon, and the 
people with whom I have connected myself 
would be the last ones in the world to ask me 
to break any agreement which I have made. I 
shall not in any way be paraded or exhibited 
in public and shall have nothing to do with the 
giving of the entertainment. 
■ "There are many other things which I would 
like to say to you, but it is hard to express 
myself in a letter of this kind. Of one thing 
you may be very sure : 

"I have never since 1876 taken a drink of in- 
toxicating' liquors and I never expect to do so 
as long as I live, in addition to being a man 




JUDGE L. B. VALLIANT, 
Of the Missouri Supreme Court. 



[305] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

of temperance, I shall endeavor to so conduct 
myself in every other way that the people of 
Minnesota, and in particular men likeyou, who 
have always helped me, will have no reason to 
blush for me in the future. I desire to again 
thank you for your many acts of personal kind- 
ness to me and remain your true and sincere 
friend. 

"Cole Young-er. 
"P. S. My best wishes and kindest regards 
to your family, not forgetting any friends in 
the State of Minnesota. 

"Cole." 



CHAPTER 32. 
Cole Younger as a Correspondent. 

COLE Younger was a voluminous let- 
ter-writer especially after the year 
1S84, when I had my first conver- 
sation with him in the state prison 
at Stillwater, at which time I made the promise 
to lend my aid henceforth toward the libera- 
tion of himself and brothers. ^ 

The prison rules limited the number of let- 
ters he might write to persons outside, but he 
made up for this by making each letter partic- 
ularly to me, of unusual length. He wrote a 
rather small hand and crowded the lines close 
together. He utilized space on paper with the 
same care that a small German or French 
farmer does the few acres of land he cultivates 
in the old country. 

Cole's penmanship and composition im- 
proved with time and his correspondence be- 
came more interesting from month to month. 
He wrote on a variety of subjects, the prin- 
cipal one, of course, relating to the measures 
that were being taken for a pardon. 

It is interesting to note in these letters his 
keen observation of political affairs and con- 

[306] 



[307] 
The Voungers" Fight for Freedom, 

ditions, not only in 'Minnesota, but throughout 
the country. He had access to newspapers 
and other publications and kept thoroughly 
informed as to what was transpiring outside. 

His deep interest in and clear perception of 
passing events, political and otherwise, can 
easily be accounted for from the fact of his se- 
clusion and also from the further fact that his 
future welcome depended so much on what 
took place in other quarters. 

Besides this, he was naturally gifted with a 
wonderful insight into human nature, and 
while he was denied the privileges of mingling 
with many of the men who were in the public 
eye during his imprisonment, he had opportun- 
ity to form opinions and estimates of them 
from what he read. 

The noted prisoner was usually fair and gen- 
erous in his expressions of opinion, even in 
regard to those persons whom he well knew 
were not his friends and were working 
against him. 

During the two Bryan presidential cam- 
paigns he was an ardent free-silver Democrat 
and showed in his letters to me that he was 
watching the course of events with extreme 
interest. In fact, one not knowing to the con- 



[308] 
The Yoimgers' Fight for Freedom, 

trary would have supposed'-that Cole Younger 
was a free American citizen at that time in- 
stead of a man shut in from the world by 
iron doors and stone walls, with little prospect 
of ever seeing the light of liberty again, much 
less casting a vote. 

The folloAving extracts from Cole's letters 
to me are made with a view to giving to giv- 
ing as much variety of topic as possible. 



"March 1, 1889. 
''Your favor of last month was missent and 
was several days on the road. I have no 
special news to write. Bob is not well and I 
don't think he ever will be again if we have 
to stay in here much longer, I was in hopes 
you or some one would come up so as to get 
some one in this state to work on the case. 
I could get some one, but I have not a dollar, 
and I would rather stay here forty years than 
to promise something and not be able to pay. 
Should they not succeed in getting us out there 
is one thing sure we will stay here until we do 
get some one in this state that will do some- 
thing for us, and as the leading men in the 
state are at St. Paul now and will be until the 
first of next month, now is the time they could 



[309] 

be seen with but little trouble. I am blue, as 
Bob is sick in bed to-day. Love to all friends." 



"May 17, 1889. 

"Your most welcome letter of the 14th inst. 
came to hand a few hours ago. God bless you 
and your family, and I hope it will be my last 
wish that you may always enjoy all the bless- 
ings this life can give, and in the world to 
come that you may be among the happiest. 

"I wrote Jefi' Younger the other day to go 
and see you and render what service he could. 
There are but few Edwards on earth, neither 
are there many Bronaughs, for your disinter- 
ested friendship has been more Christlike than 
any man's I ever knew. I regret that I am 
not more worthy, but hope to live to prove 
that I know how to appreciate the noble 
friend you have been to us. 

"When I read of the petition being circulated 
at Jefferson City I felt like we often felt dur- 
ing the war when the fight was going on and 
we could hear it and knew our friends were 
engaged and we were on outpost or held in 
reserve and could not go to their rescue. I 
could do nothing but walk up and down the 
library and hope the good Lord was with you 
and Ave would once more be free. 



[310] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

"How I do hate to think I will never meet 
Major Edwards in this life again. It makes 
me nervous to think of him being no more. 
.[ shall always love his children for his sake 
and if in the future I can ever do them or their 
mother a favor it will be one pleasure left me. 
Bob is very sick ; I fear he will not live long ; 
he is sure not to unless he gets out of prison ; 
it is terrible to think of him dying in prison." 



"January 15, 1893. 

"I wrote you last Sunday, but as this is 
my birthday I will write you again. I am not 
feeling very good, so am a little nervous, but 
it will pass off in time. We have had some 
very cold weather and I have taken cold and 
that makes me blue. 

"After sending you my last letter I feared 
you might think I had reference to my rela- 
tives in Texas, so I write to-day to say that 
I was not thinking of them. They are noble 
Christians and true friends and I know they 
are of my opinion that you and Steve will do 
for the best, though friends in this state and 
the Scriptures say now is the time, for to- 
morrow we may die, and I think that can be 
applied to our case at present. 



[311] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

"I am forty-nine years old to-day and haye 
not long for this life at best, and after serv- 
ing sixteen years in here if I start down I will 
go fast." 



"March 26, 1893. 
''Your kind favor of the 20th was received 
and read with pleasure. I congratulate myself 
upon the fact that we have the best friend in 
the world. No one has a better, and but few 
his equal. I hope your visit to Kansas City 
will be pleasant one as well as a successful 
one. I hope Steve will win the fight for coal 
oil inspector of Kansas City." 



"May 21, 1893. 

"It has been sometime since I have written 
to or received a letter from you, and at this 
writing I have no news of any description, 
good, bad or indifferent. 

"T am as fleshy as I ever was — would weigh 
over two-hundred pounds. 

"Of course, you are aware the Legislature 
did nothing for life men. But, as the parole 
system is in operation here as well as at St. 
Cloud, I think probably the inspectors at that 
place would now act with this place. Here- 



[312] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

tofore they have refused in the case of Bener, 
a life man here from St. Cloud, and the people 
of that place have always been very bitter 
against him for killing his wife. 

"1 get very nervous at times of late, and 
don't know what to do with myself. I am like 
a boy in graveyard, I try to keep up courage, 
still I get very blue and regret that I did not 
meet with the luck of many of our friends dur- 
ing the war — get a bullet where it would have 
done its work the quickest. I think it would 
have been best." 



"July 2, 1893. 

"I have not heard from you for sometime. 
Hope you and the family are well and happy. 
A day or two after I wrote you last, I learned 
you passed through Denison, Texas, but sup- 
pose you have returned to Missouri before 
this. I have no news to write you, and sup- 
pose you have no good news, therefore you 
remain silent. 

"Retta wrote me she was coming to Mis- 
souri this month and would make your wife 
a visit. 

"As for times, they are hard in Texas and 




UNITED STATES SENATOR STEPHEN B. ELKINS. 



[315] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

here, as they are everywhere. I got off on 
my financial ear in my letters to Rogers, and 
I suppose my views are different from his or 
yours. Still I suppose each has a right to his 
views. T don't believe in lickspittles, whether 
it is an individual or a nation, and it seems 
to me that the United States with sixty-four 
millions of people is playing that part at 
present, with Great Britain — a part that our 
forefathers would have been too proud and 
independent to do, when they had only five 
million people. State banks would be a farce 
in this age, with the rapid transit of commerce 
by rail from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and 
from the Gulf to the lakes of the north. I 
can remember when a boy in ante-bellum times 
if a man went out of Missouri he had to ex- 
change his Missouri money for that of the 
state he went to, and at a discount. Tt was 
a feast for the middlemen then, and would 
be ten times more so now. Napoleon said cap- 
ital was cowardly, and he could have added, 
it was a bully when it was dealing with cow- 
ards or with those in its power, and all would 
be true. But the United States are not in its 
power. 

"If we had a Jefferson, Jackson or a Lincoln 



[316] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

at its head, with a few Websters, Clays, Cal- 
houns and Bentons in the United States Sen- 
ate, that had the nerve to tell the money power 
to be down; they would down as quick as a 
pointer does when his master stamps his foot. 
This country with her millions worth of sur- 
plus cotton, wheat, pork and beef that Europe 
wants could take the lead in money matters 
of the world." 



"July 16, 1893. 

"Our last two letters passed each other on 
the road, so I will write again. Jim and my- 
self are both in good health and hoping and 
praying for the best. We have no news of 
interest, all of our wishes are that something 
will turn up soon that will set us free with 
our friends at home and in peace with all man- 
kind. I have not written any one about our 
case and won't, I will leave that to you and 
those you select. 

"I suppose that you have learned by the 
papers we had a cyclone in our neighborhood 
the other day. I could see it plainly while it 
was forming. It was a beauty to look at. The 
funnel would stretch the lower end down two 
or three hundred feet at a time and it would 



[317] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

go like a pile driver, and then rebound like 
a piece of rubber that had been stretched full 
length and let go. While the clouds at the 
upper end of the funnel were boiling up like 
the whitecaps off the Charleston, South Caro- 
lina, harbor when the sea is running high. 
I knew it would and was dealing death and 
destruction in its path and might come up the 
lake and visit us, but I could not but admire 
the picture it made and I felt just as one does 
looking on at a big battle and forgets all about 
the dangers to himself, while watching the 
maneuvers and the smoke and noise of battle, 
for you know after the battle opens and it be- 
comes interesting one ceases to think of the 
personal danger. At least that was the way it 
was with me and that is the way I felt the 
other day, while I was really sorry for all who 
were to suffer and hoped it would not come 
our way, still I could not but enjoy the scene 
and laugh at the looks near me. I remarked to 
one of the guards, it is a beauty ain't it, but 
he failed to see it. 

"I have not learned what amount of damage 
the cyclone did except that two men Avere kill- 
ed here." 



[318] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

"September 8, 1893. 

"It has been some weeks since I wrote you, 
still I believe I have written two or three 
times since I have had the honor of hearing 
from you. Our health is good and we are in 
as good spirits as could be expected under the 
surroundings. I would like to have gone to 
the World's fair, but I suppose I will have to 
wait until the next one. I was disappointed 
that Retta did not make you a visit while in 
Missouri. She intended doing so, but had 
rheumatism in her right arm and shoulder so 
bad she had to put it off, and she had to 
hurry to Texas earlier than she intended to 
on account of the school board demanding old 
teachers standing examination as well as new 
applicants. 

"I received a letter from Colonel G. A. Jack- 
son of Colorado awhile back. I wrote him last 
Sunday. You must have known him. He is 
a son of Hancock Jackson. He was with you 
on Price's last raid to Missouri. I will send 
you his letter. You can write him if you feel 
so disposed. I have thought of writing Reagan 
every week but as we don't write but once a 
week I am not able to get around often. Col- 
onel Varde Cockrell, Colonel Gid Thompson 



[319] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

and many others I have not written for two 
years. I think Colonel Cockrell of Texas and 
Morgan of Missouri, and others could get let- 
ters from members of Congress from this state 
to Governor Nelson asking for all pardon or 
commutations but you know best. A letter 
from Colonel Crisp would have weight. 

"In one of your former letters you asked 
about the officials here that you knew; there 
are but two here now that you got acquainted 
with. Mr. Albert, our chaplain, is still here 
and a good man and preached a very fine ser- 
mon this morning." 



"October 28, 1894. 

"Your kind favor written and mailed at 
Hannibal, Missouri, on the 24th inst., was duly 
received and read with pleasure and each point 
noted. Don't think for a moment because I 
have not written that I have ceased to remem- 
ber you one moment as God's nobleman, for I 
have not. But at times the least said is best, 
and for sometime I have felt that it was best 
to say but little. I knew that Governor Mar- 
shall and other friends would keep you posted 
and I thought that was best. ■ 

"There are few of the officials here now that 



[320] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

were here when you were up. I am now and 
have been since July in the hospital as help to 
the hospital steward. Mr. Albert is still our 
chaplain. He was up the other day just before 
I received your letters. He inquired about you. 
He said he would be in St. Paul to-morrow 
and have a talk with Governor Marshall and 
others about prison reforms, etc. 

"There was a party wrote me from St. Paul 
a few weeks ago in regard to ourselves. He 
claimed to be an agent of the New York 
World. I answered him and referred him to 
ex-Warden Reed, Stordock and our present 
Warden Wolfer. I shall find out from Gov- 
ernor Marshall whether the man is O. K. or 
not." 



"October 4, 1896. 
"I will write you this evening, but have 
nothing new or interesting to communicate. T 
will send you a letter I received from Dr. 
Newman. He had charge of the hospital last 
year. We were together every day for over 
twelve months. He is to be married this fall, 
that is what takes him down to Nebraska. I 
told him in my letter last Sunday that it was 
bnt natural lie would meet more goldbugs on 



[321] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

his trip, for he was so proud to get down there 
and see his best girl. He straightened up to 
his full height and with that dignified look of 
his he seemed to be seven feet high. He is six 
feet six inches and the old farmers and silver- 
ites took to the woods at sight of him. But 
they will come out on the third of next month 
and give Bryan fifteen thousand majority in 
Nebraska. Dr. Newman is a noble man and 
smart. He graduated at the head of his class 
at the State university has traveled a great 
deal in South America and Europe. 

"Everything is ablaze with politics in this 
state. John Lind spoke in Stillwater last night. 
I could hear the band playing and the people 
shouting. I suppose it was the ones out in the 
street, as I understand there was too many 
to get in the hall. Lind is an ex-Republican 
congressman, and one of the ablest and most 
powerful men in the state. But he bolted the 
republican platform and was nominated for 
Governor of this state by the Silver Repub- 
licans, Democrats and Populists, so he will 
give Clough a hard fight and no one will know 
who will be the next Governor until the vote 
is counted. This is naturally a Republican 
state, but the lines are broken everywhere. 



[322] 
The You7igers' Fight for Freedom, 

Millionaires, bankers and railroad Democrats 
have gone over to the Republican party, while 
thousands of farmers and laboring men have 
gone over to the Democratic party, so this is 
a doubtful state. 

''The pictures came all O. K. and we were 
truly glad to get them. Sam is a great big 
good-looking boy, while Mary and Fisher are 
as sweet as they can be. I kissed them both 
many times and in my mind's eye could see 
how their mother looked when she was a little 
girl and_I wrote a composition for her on 'The 
Wreck of Time.' Our health is good. My 
weight is two hundred and sixteen pounds and 
Jim one hundred and eighty." 



"October 11, 1896. 

'T suppose that you have learned by the pa- 
pers that Br3^an is in St. Paul to-day. He 
spoke there last night to a large crowd, will 
speak at Minneapolis to-morrow and from 
there go to Duluth and around through Wis- 
consin and Michigan. Everything is at fever 
heat politically in this state. Both sides are 
claiming it by twenty thousand majority. 

'T suppose you saw there had been a bank 
robbery in this state. Two or three men were 




HON. E. W. STEPHENS. 



[325] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

killed. Of course, our names will have to go 
the rounds and we shall be held responsible 
for all the hair-brained fools. The newspapers 
writing up some sensational matter about us 
every month is partly the* cause of keeping us 
fresh in the minds of the people, and fool boys 
think it would be smart to try their hand at 
some of our deeds. As long as the state and 
nation allow these blood-and-thunder books 
to be published and circulated they may expect 
to hear of boys attempting to imitate some 
parts of what they read." 



"November 26, 1896. 

"We have had a very pleasant Thanksgiv- 
ing, plenty of cranberry sauce and turkey, 
some good music by a brass band and several 
recitations by a sweet young lady (Miss Dixie 
Smith) from Minneapolis. Ex-Mayor Eustis 
gave us a talk on the Keeley cure. I was in- 
troduced to him by the Warden. After talk- 
ing to me for half an hour he put his hand on 
my shoulder and said : 

'Well, Younger, you ought to have been 
in Congress or the United States Senate in- 
stead of in here. " 

"I blushed and said, thanks!" 



[326] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

"January 3, 1897. 

"While I have nothing new or interesting to 
communicate, I will write you all the same, to 
let you know we are well, and in good spirits. 
Had a jolly good Xmas and New Years. Mu- 
sic, speaking and reading by a very good- 
looking lady. Wednesday before Xmas, the 
Governor, his daughter and her husband and 
his mother were over to visit the prison. They 
spent the day; visited Jim in the library, and 
spent some time in my room. They all seemed 
to enjoy the visit, and I did of course. The 
Governor spoke of the hard fight he had in 
the last campaign. I told him I would ask 
one favor of him, that he was to take a 
preacher with him that we have here. We 
have him in the hospital now, and he is a fraud 
and more trouble than all the rest of the sick. 
But a man that would preach the gospel, and 
try to poison his wife at the same time, is too 
mean for anything. 

"Horace Greeley sent me a Catholic prayer- 
book and Xmas card. Dr. Beebe played Santa 
Glaus and slipped me in a meerschaum pipe 
with tobacco, so you see I can smoke to my 
heart's content. 

"I have received several letters from friends, 
among them one from a beautiful young lady 
in Alinneapolis. 



[327] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

"I would like to read a speech from Governor 
Stone, in the United States Senate, on Cuba, 
if he is as full of that subject as he was of 16 
to 1 during- the campaign, for he surely made 
some of the best speeches that were made in 
the fight." 



"February 22, 1897. 

"Jim and myself are in good health with the 
exception of a little rheumatism in my breast. 
We both send many thanks to you for your 
noble work in our behalf. It will always be 
my prayer that God may bless you and yours 
and I believe that he will on account of the 
noble heart in your breast. 

"We read Avith heartfelt sorrow of Gen. Jo 
Shelby's death, but were glad to see that they 
gave him a right royal funeral. I have read 
everything said of him in the Republic, Globe- 
Democrat, Kansas City Times, Kansas City 
Star and the St. Joseph Gazette, not forgetting 
the Appleton City Herald and others. The 
most of the papers of this state has something 
to say of him. 

"Dr. Newman has married since I saw you. 
He and his wife were here and made us a visit. 
Thev are now located at Wells this state. I 



[328] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

received a letter from Horace Greeley. She 
didn't like it because you failed to come by 
and see us. I wrote and offered every excuse 
I could sum up. 

''Many thanks to Senator Steve Elkins. Did 
you see Will Cowherd? A letter from his 
father would have much weight. He has 
known me from the cradle up and he is the 
father of a congressman even if he did fail 
to get there himself. I know that Charles 
Cowherd would give a letter and make it 
strong. 

"I have written this letter Sunday night, but 
dated it the 22nd, as that is my father's birth- 
day as well as George Washington's." 



''May 16, 1897. 
"Your kind favor of the 12th was received 
yesterday. I was truly glad to hear from you, 
and to learn that your wife, children and your- 
self were enjoying the best of health. I hope 
each of you may enjoy the blessing of good 
health during a long and prosperous life and 
always be happy and contented. Jim is look- 
ing better than he has at any time since our 
home at this place, and my own health is good 
and I am living in hopes that better days will 



[329] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

come and will always love and thank you and 
yours for the same. 

*'T think the move in regard to Archbishop 
Ireland and Judge Start was a good one. 
Bishop Whipple of the Episcopal church wrote 
General Sibley several letters in regard to our 
case, but I have not heard from him since the 
death of Sibley and Marshall. Bishop Whip- 
ple left last week for Europe to be gone six 
months. Bishop Gilbert of St. Paul takes his 
place, in fact Gilbert has been at the head of 
that church for years, as W^hipple is very old 
and feeble. I have known Bishop Gilbert for 
over ten years. He preaches in our chapel 
ever}'- Easter Sunday and has always appeared 
very friendly." 



"August 15, 1897. 

"Your kind favor written at Sedalia was re- 
ceived a few days ago. I had just taken a 
spell of the grip and was broken up for two 
days, but I am all right again. Jim is in the 
best of health and we are hopeful of brighter 
days in the future. I have received two let- 
ters from Dr. McClure; he is a true friend. 

"The members of the W. C. T. U. were 
over to see us last week. One of the leaders 
told me thcv v/ere all for us. 



[330] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

"I will not only send onr kindest regards, 
but love and good wishes to each of your fam- 
ily. Give many kisses to the children. Tell 
Mrs. Bronaugh I appreciated her letter as 
much as any I have ever received and shall 
ever remember her as one of God's noblest 
women." 



"August 6, 1899. 

"Your favor of the 25th of last month duly 
received. We were very glad to hear you 
were all well. 

"Young Mr. Bushnell was here, but we re- 
gret that he did not get in sooner and stay 
later. As it was we only had time to say 
howdy and goodbye. I thought I could see 
that he resembled you some and he impressed 
me as a right bright young man. 

"If I had got one or two hundred dollars to 
pay expenses I would have got out last winter 
all right, notwithstanding the newspaper talk 
about the people in Missouri sending forty- 
five thousand to help me. The facts are as 
you knoAv, I have never received one dollar 
from any one in Missouri, except from my 
nephews to pay expenses. That old mayor that 
fought us when you were up here, fought us 



[331] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

before the legislature in a speech before the 
committee of the house. He said there was no 
money being used to corrupt a Minnesota 
house as they did in Missouri. He said Bron- 
augh told him he had spent ten thousand dol- 
lars, traveled ten thousand miles and worked 
ten years in Missouri and would put in the 
same in Minnesota. But I knew he lied and 
I told them that you never made any such a 
statement ; that you would not have made any 
such a statement even if it had been true, for 
you had sense enough to know that such talk 
would hurt us." 



''January 2, 1898. 

"Jim and myself are in good health and are 
getting along as usual. We are having very 
pleasant weather for this time of the year in 
this state. Had quite a nice time Xmas and 
New Years, but what bothers me most is the 
fact that two weeks from today I shall be fifty- 
four years old and Jim fifty. 

"I hope Mrs. Bronaugh and the children are 
well and happy. With my best love for you 
and yours, not forgetting the rest of your 
mother's family that prayed for us in the war 
time, I am your true and grateful friend al- 
ways." 



CHAPTER 33. 

Major John N. Edwards, Author of The Fa- 
- mous Younger Petition. 

THE late Major John N. Edwards, one 
of the most brilHant, picturesque 
and fascinating- authors and edi- 
torial writers Missouri has ever 
had, was a native of Virginia, but became a 
resident of Missouri when quite young. For 
some years prior to the beginning of the Civil 
War he served an apprenticeship in a news- 
paper office in Lexington, Missouri, thus be- 
ginning at the lowest round of the ladder and 
ascending to the highest in journalism. 

In 1861 he espoused the cause of the South 
and joined his fortunes with those of the late 
General Jo O. Shelby — the knightliest and 
most daring cavalry leader of the Trans-Mis- 
sissippi Department. Edwards became Shel- 
by's adjutant and was of great service in that 
capacity to his brilliant superior, both of whom 
entered the Confederate army from the same 
locality — Lafayette county, Missouri. Edwards 
wrote many of the official reports of the bat- 
[332] 




JUDGE G. D. BURGESS, 
Of the Missouri Supreme Court. 



[335] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

ties and campaigns of his chief, and in them 
was displayed the same dazzHng rhetoric and 
gorgeous coloring that characterizes his lit- 
erary productions after 1865. 

Major Edwards participated in all of the 
four years service of Shelby's famous "Iron 
Brigade," and was severely wounded on the 
expedition into Missouri in 1864. When "The 
Conquered Banner" had been furled and the 
weary but immortal veterans of Lee and John- 
ston and Kirby Smith had surrendered and re- 
turned to their desolate homes, General Shel- 
by, with a select body of cavalry, numbering 
800 or a thousand, decided not to surrender, 
but to cross the Rio Grande into Mexico and 
fight under the flag of either Juarez or Maxi- 
milian. The story of this expedition forms one 
of the most thrilling and romantic chapters in 
American history and is embodied in a hand- 
some volume by Edwards entitled, "Shelby's 
Expedition Into Mexico; or An Unwritten 
Leaf of the AVar." 

On his return to Missouri Major Edwards 
wrote several other entertaining historical 
works, dealing with the Civil War, and also 
engaged in journalism as chief editorial writer 
on The Kansas City Times, St. Louis Times, 



[336] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom, 

Sedalia Dispatch, Sedalia Democrat and St. 
Joseph Gazette. Some of his literary edito- 
rials attracted even more than national atten- 
tion, especially the one on "Poor Carlota," 
the unhappy wife of the slain Emperor Maxi- 
milian. 

Major Edwards was an ardent and confiden- 
tial friend of the Younger brothers and the 
James brothers. As Confederates, he defended 
them to his dying day. 

The lamented soldier, editor and author died 
in Jefiferson City, in 1889, and he was buried 
in a cemetery near Dover, Lafayette county, 
Missouri — a quaint and quiet village where he 
had passed much of his youth and many of 
his happiest days. 

The petition to the Governor of Minnesota, 
in behalf of the pardon of the Youngers, is 
believed to have been the last piece of literary 
work he did. He was my sincere friend at all 
times and I wish here to record my esteem 
for his knightly character and my admiration 
for his brilliant genius. 



CHAPTER 34. 
Warden Wolfer's Work. 

HON. HENRY WOLFER, present 
Warden of the Stillwater peniten- 
tiary, worked hard for the release 
of the Younger brothers and I 
had a great deal of correspondence with him 
from first to last. January 26, 1897, he wrote 
me: 

"I intended to have dropped you a line ere 
this in reference to a matter that is of great 
interest and importance to you, i. e., in the in- 
terest of the Younger brothers' release from 
this institution. I received copies of two peti- 
tions from Mr. Jones, one of which was to be 
used in obtaining the signatures of the mem- 
ers of both houses of your state legislature and 
other state officials. He asked me to make 
any suggestions that occurred to me with re- 
ference to the same, which I did and returned 
to him. 

"I have seen from the papers since that you 
have been at work obtaining signatures to 
this petition and doubtless have well nigh com- 
pleted it. While at the capitol in St. Paul a 

[337] 

22 



[338] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

few days ago I had another talk with Governor 
Cloiigh with reference to the matter, and my 
mind is still more settled as to his attitude be- 
fore the Board of Pardons than it was when 
I talked with him in your presence somie time 
since. I asked his advice about certain matters 
in relation to presenting the petition and pa- 
pers and talked with him very freely concern- 
ing the matter, and I am now satisfied what 
his attitude will be. 

"The Governor advised that the matter be 
not brought before the board until after the ad- 
journment of the legislature. The suggestion 
I consider very timely and wise after fully can- 
vassing the situation with him. 

*T hope you are well and succeeding beyond 
your expectation in your efiforts in behalf of 
the boys, in so far as getting proper showing 
from your state in their behalf." 



May 14, 1897, he wrote: 

'T have your favor of the 12 inst., and am 
glad to know that you have made such good 
progress in behalf of the Younger boys. The 
next regular meeting of the Pardon Board will 
be on July 12th. In the meantime, strengthen 



[339] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

yonr forces as much as possible. The more in- 
fluence you can bring to bear the better. I 
shall also do all possible to advance the best in- 
terest of the cause. I will have one or two 
g-ood talkers present and will have the recom- 
mendation of our Board of Managers together 
with such other influences for good that I can 
bring to bear upon the case. 

"I had a long talk with Governor Clough, 
only a few days ago regarding the case, and 
he very earnestly expressed the wish that he 
had granted a pardon to the boys before the 
pardoning power was taken from his hands. 
Said he, 'I am now convinced that you were 
right in what you said to me the day that you 
pressed me so hard to take favorable action in 
their behalf, and it is one of the mistakes which 
I have made as Governor, which I regret now 
as much as any one act that I can recall.' 

"I shall see Judge Start, and Attorney-Gen- 
eral Childs, as soon as I return from a short 
visit to North Dakota, which will be in about 
one week. I will keep you advised as to the 
status of afifairs and let you know what success 
I have with Judge Start, so far as may be 
judged from personal interview. I am a little 
afraid of him. In my talk with the Governor 



[340] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

the other day, he also expressed fear as to 
Judge Start's attitude. Bring to bear all you 
can upon Judge Start. I know the other two 
will be all right. 

"I do not see any need of your coming very 
much before July 12th. It might be well to 
be here three or four days before that date, 
however." 



June 22, 1897, he addressed me as follows: 

''I have your esteemed favor of late date and 
carefully note its contents. I think you have 
done exceedingly well in your efforts in be- 
half of the Younger brothers. If we do not 
succeed in getting the boys pardoned we shall 
at least have made a good strong effort. Per- 
sonally, I am quite hopeful although I real- 
ize that there may be some strong opposition 
to overcome. I went personally to the Gov- 
ernor's office the other day and filed the per- 
sonal applications made out here, also the sup- 
plemental application made out and sent me 
by Mr. Jones. I also made arrangements with 
the Governor and his private secretary to hold 
the papers as quietly as possible. On the 
same day I visited the editors of all the pa- 



[341] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

pers in St. Paul, telling them that an appli- 
cation was going to be made for the pardon 
of the Younger brothers, and making a full 
explanation of the situation, and requesting 
their co-operation when the time came. I 
promised them a full and complete statement 
of facts that would be presented to the Board 
of Pardons, together with a succinct statement 
of the inside history of the Northfield raid and 
a very interesting interview from Cole 
Younger. I promised this to each paper on 
the day the application would be presented to 
the pardon board, viz., on July l'2th. This will 
have a tendency to keep them quiet until that 
time. I also received a promise from each that 
th.^y would do nothing to injure the chances of 
the boys. In fact, that if they could not hear- 
tily support the matter editorially, they would 
not say anything against it, and I think all of 
them, with possibly one exception, will treat it 
editorially very favorably. I have not visited 
the different newspapers of Minneapolis as 
3^et, but intend doing so in course of a few 
days. The 11th Annual National Reunion and 
Grand Lodge Meeting of our B. P. O. Elks 
will occur in Minneapolis from the 6th to the 
10th of July. I am a state delegate and wlU 



[342] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedo7n. 

necessarily have to be there a good deal of 
the time. I am also chairman of the executive 
committee of the state lodges to be repre- 
sented there. I think your suggestion about 
coming so as to get to my ofhce later than 
the 7th of July a good one. I think it would 
be well for you to be here, as near as you can, 
on the morning of the 7th. The grand parade 
of the Reunion will take place in Minneapolis 
on the morning of July 8th. After reading this 
letter you may send it to Mr. Jones or write 
him fully as I have written you. I am very 
busy at present, but shall not neglect anything 
that will contribute to the success of our ef- 
forts for the pardon of the boys. I have writ- 
ten a strong letter to George M. Baxter, the 
county attorney, who prosecuted the Young- 
ers. Until recently he was in South America. 
I hope to gain his co-operation. It is diffi- 
cult to tell, however, until I hear from him, 
what the result will be so far as he is con- 
cerned." 



May 2, 1898, he wrote : 

"I have your esteemed favor of April 28, 
and have carefully noted its contents. Cole 




GEN. JO SHK1J5Y 



[345] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

and Jim have already tendered their services 
to the Governor of Minnesota and offered to 
enter the army and fight for Uncle Sam, pro- 
vided the Board of Pardons will grant them a 
conditional pardon for this purpose. This 
tender was made by letter some time ago. 

"The Board may possibly give the matter 
favorable consideration later on, provided the 
pressure for United States troops becomes 
heavy and exacting. Otherwise, I do not think 
they will pay any attention to it. 

*T desire to say, also, for your information 
that in my opinion it would be most unwise to 
attempt to use this information in a public way 
through the press with a view of promoting 
their interests in the way of securing executive 
clemency. I feel sure that such a move would 
do more harm than it could possibly do good 
at this juncture. Public sentiment and that 
of the Board of Pardons, cannot be favorably 
moved in this way until conditions change. 
My advice is, therefore, to you and to others 
who are interested in the Younger boys, to 
keep this move out of the newspapers." 



November 26, 1898, he addressed me : 

"I have your favored inquiry of the 21st, in 



[346] 
The Youngcrs' Fight for Freedom, 

behalf of the Younger boys, and note your 
anxiety to be informed as to the present con- 
dition of public sentiment and the probable 
attitude of the State Board of Pardons in the 
event of their case being brought up again 
under the present administration, together with 
the probable attitude of the Board of Pardons 
as it will exist with the new Governor and At- 
torney-General. In reply would say that I do 
not believe that Judge Start has changed in 
the least and T do not think that there would 
be any possible chance for a favorable consid- 
eration of the application for pardons under 
the present administration. I can not say of 
what attitude the Board may be as a whole, 
nor in part, after the new Governor and Attor- 
ney-General take their seats. Both are gen- 
tlemen of high character and noted for their 
fairness in dealing with the responsibilities that 
may fall upon them. I do not know of any 
effort now being made to bring up the case of 
the Younger brothers again under the present 
administration, and I do not think that any 
such movement is on foot; in any event I do 
not think it would do any good, however 
wisely presented. Governor-elect Lind is a 
mild, even-tempered, and considerate sort of 



[347] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

a man, yet, has a great deal of firmness and 
decision of character. The same may be said 
of Attorney-General Douglas." 



February 10, 1899: 

"I have your valued favor of the 4th inst., 
in behalf of the Younger brothers, and have 
carefully noted its contents. In reply would 
say that I do not know whether it would be 
possible to get a bill through the legislature 
providing for the parole of life convicts or not. 
1 think that there is no doubt but what an ef- 
fort will be made in this direction, and if there 
is any show of getting it through it will be 
pushed. To be perfectly frank with you, how- 
ever, I am apprehensive that legislation along 
this line just at this time will meet with 
strong opposition, and that one of the first 
arguments against it will be that it will re- 
lease the Younger brothers. 

"You state in your letter that you will mail 
a letter to me for Cole. That is, that you would 
forward it to me under my address, which you 
would like to have me personally turn over to 
Cole or read to him. I did not find this letter. 
Possibly you overlooked sending it or chang- 



[348] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

ed your mind. I shall be glad to comply with 
your request should you desire to send it. 

''Replying to your request for information as 
to what you ought to do in the premises, if 
anvthino^, relative to legislation that will bene- 
fit the Youngers, will say, that I do not know 
of anything that you can do at this time that 
would likely help the cause. In fact, I think 
that your presence about the capitol on any 
matters referring to legislation on behalf of the 
Youngers would have a bad effect. I believe 
that public sentiment is growing more favor- 
able to the boys, but I doubt if the time is yet 
ripe when they can be directly benefited by 
legislation or otherwise." 



March 1, 1S99 : 

"Your letter of the 20th ult.. with enclosed 
personal letter to Cole Younger, was duly re- 
ceived. I turned the letter over to him per- 
sonally, as you requested. The bill now pend- 
ing before the legislature, which is still in the 
hands of the Prison Committee of the Senate, 
providing for parole of life prisoners, is still 
hanging fire. Several of the Senators have 



[349] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

talked with me about the matter, and in a talk 
I recently had with the chairman of the com- 
mittee, I am inclined to think the disposition 
of a majority of the members is to modify the 
bill, eliminating some of the objectionable feat- 
ures, and still maintain the helpful features in 
behalf of the Youngers. and then recommend 
it to pass, and under these conditions I am in- 
clined to think it will pass the Senate, but what 
fate it will meet in the House it is hard to de- 
termine at this time. I am afraid, however, 
that it will not go through, although there 
seems to be a more favorable sentiment pre- 
vailing now than some time ago and I am con- 
fident it is o:ettin2: better all the time." 



CHAPTER 35. 

Captain Reagan and His Tribute. 

Captain S. C. Reagan, of Kansas City, Mis- 
souri, an old school teacher of Cole and Jim 
Younger in days before the Civil War, and an 
active auxiliary in their liberation, was born 
in Montgomery county, Kentucky, in March, 
1823. He removed to Jackson county, Mis- 
souri, in 1837, with his father and family. He 
took much interest in education at a very early 
age. If there were no schools convenient he 
studied at home, and in this way had mastered 
the arithmetic and English grammar, and had 
made some progress in algebra. In 1847 High- 
land Academy was erected in the country on 
the Avaters of the Little Blue. This institution 
was designed for pupils well advanced in lit- 
erature. Pupils from Michigan, Mississippi, 
Kentucky, and Mexico attended this school. 
Young Reagan was a student of this institution 
from its organization to its close, graduating 
in latin, mathematics, natural science, etc. In 
the year 1848, he chose the profession of teach- 
er, which he followed for the next ten years, 

[350] 




ATTY. GEN'L GEO P. WILSON, 
Of Minnesota, and Eight Years State Senator. 



[353] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom. 

when he removed to Texas and engaged in 
farming and stock-raising, being very success- 
ful. 

Governor Clark, of Texas, appointed him 
captain of Company A, State Troops, of Tar- 
rant county. Capt. Reagan, having taken a 
very pronounced stand in the Kansas troubles, 
on the Southern side, it was hard for him to 
keep out of politics in Texas. About the last 
of 1861, he raised a volunteer company for the 
Confederate service, and early in 1862 started 
for the field of action. At Little Rock his com- 
pany and all the rest were dismounted and his 
regiment — the 14th Texas — took steamer 
for Corinth, Mississippi. At Memphis, Tenn- 
essee, April 8, 1862, the whole command was 
reorganized. Capt. Reagan under the law was 
entitled to the lieutenant-colonelcy, but the 
boys would not let him leave them and he was 
re-elected captain, a position he held during the 
war, when he was entitled to promotion the 
boys always objected, saying: "You promised 
mother when we enlisted that you would stay 
with us, as Captain," and this promise held him 
to this rank throughout the rebellion, allowing 
the rank of third lieutenant often to go above 
him. Capt. Reagan often told the boys that 
23 



[354] 
The Youngers' Fight for Fi^eedom. 

they did not give him a fair deal, but he kept 
his word to his own detriment. He often had 
command of the regiment. 

His first experience in battle was under 
Price, at Farmington, Mississippi, then in the 
siege of Corinth, Mississippi. He participated 
in the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, under 
G^n. E. Kirb)^ Smith. The army came out 
of Kentucky in December, 1862, and fought 
the battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, under 
Gen. Braxton Bragg. The brigade was com- 
manded by Gen. M. D. Ector. The Texas 
troops of this army were transferred to Mis- 
sissippi and were in the siege of Vicksburg, 
under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. It fell back 
to Jackson, Mississippi. Ector's brigade was 
transferred again to Tennessee and was in 
the battle of Chickamauga. 

About the first of the year, 1864, Capt. Reag- 
an resigned and went back to Texas, where he 
was assigned as post-adjutant at Dallas, and 
was there when Gen. Lee surrendered. His 
war record was good. In 1866 he removed 
again to Jackson county, Missouri, where he 
was reared, bought a large farm near Hickman 
Mills, and commenced farming and stock-rais- 
ing with good results. In 1878-9 he served as 



[355] 
The Yonngers' Fight for Freedom, 

member of the legislature from Jackson coun- 
ty and was re-elected in 1882. He stood high 
among the members, very few of whom had 
any advantage over him in debate and oratory. 
Seventeen years ago he became a resident of 
Kansas City, Missouri, engaged in real estate 
business, made a large fortune, and then lost 
the most of it. He is to-day the same Steve 
Reagan that he was when wealthy, with no 
more nor less prid^. If he does not love an 
enemy, he does a friend, and no one will go 
further to favor a friend than he will. 

For many years he was the faithful friend 
of the late Maj. John N. Edwards, Some years 
ago Maj. Edwards said, "Steve, by G — d, we 
must make an effort to get the Youngers out." 

It was agreed that a petition should be 
drawn up to that effect. Maj. Edwards drew 
the petition and submitted it for criticism. It 
was approved and taken to Jefferson City for 
signers. This petition was drawn up in the 
back office of S. C. Reagan & Son, in the old 
Brisbane building, in Kansas City, long since 
torn down. From that day until Cole Younger 
was released Capt. Reagan never ceased to do 
all in his power to assist me in the work. 



[356] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

Capt. Reagan kindly contributes the follow- 
ing sketch of and tribute to Cole Younger : 

"Coleman Younger is a son of H. W. 
Younger and was reared in Jackson and Cass 
counties, Missouri. His father and family oc- 
cupied a very prominent position in society in 
both counties. Judge H. W. Younger was 
nominated several times for places of high 
honor and profit, but never succeeded in being 
elected because of his party being largely in 
the minority. However, he always ran ahead 
of the party ticket — the Whig party. He 
was a good financier and amassed a large for- 
tune. He held the position of mail agent or 
contractor for many years and was engaged in 
this business under the United States govern- 
ment at the time of his barbarous and coward- 
ly assassination during the early part of the 
Civil War. He was a large man, generous, 
broad-minded, and patriotic. 

"Judge Younger married into one of the 
first families of Jackson county, Missouri, his 
wife being a Miss Bersheba Fristoe, daughter 
of Judge Richard Fristoe, so that Cole Young- 
er is a descendant of highly honorable and in- 
tellectual parentage. 

"The writer of this sketch was principal of 



[357] 
The Younger s' Fight for Freedom. 

a high school or an academy at Harrisonville, 
Missouri, in 1858-59. Judge Younger was a 
patron of this school, sending regularly five or 
six pupils, among whom were Cole and Jim 
Younger, the latter being too young to mani- 
fest any definite traits of character and I shall 
only say he was a good, obedient lad. Cole, at 
that time (1859) some seventeen years of age, 
began to show something of his future make- 
up as a man. His deportment nearly always 
scored 100. He was kind and respectful to the 
teacher, as well as to his classmates. He had 
the respect of all — indeed, but few boys of 
his age had so bright a horoscope as did he. 
Bright, apt, kind, courageous, he naturally took 
rank at the head of the list of honor. It is not 
improbable that if the war had not come on at 
that time or soon afterwards Cole Younger 
would now be filling some high position, in- 
stead of looking back over twenty-five years 
of prison life. 

"It is the opinion of those who know best 
that the killing of his father had much to do 
with the daring, eccentric, and lawless course 
which Cole Younger pursued so many years. 
When I look back to his boyhood and pass 
him in review, with such a bright future of 



[358] 
The Youngers' Fight for Freedom, 

wealth, distinction, and honor, and then take 
a panoramic retrospection of facts before me, 
I can not help dropping a tear of regret that 
fate had in store for him at that time such 
thrilling incidents and scenes, and I might as 
well say crimes, as the past years have evinc- 
ed. Whatever has befallen him, he still has 
within the soul of honor. It is impossible to 
estimate the deeds of his life for the past thir- 
ty-eight years, as these have passed into his- 
tory, still it is hoped that he may live to bal- 
ance accounts with many years of good citi- 
zenship. I would trust my money, my life, and 
my honor in his hands, believing that they 
would be safe in the confidence I repose in 
him. Let a generous, Christian people extend 
to him a forgiving hand and may the days of 
his declining years pass so pleasantly with him 
that what has been may seemi as a dream 
and success reach out to him its happy hand 
wherever he may be." 




C. p. DEMING, 
Author of the Demiiig Bill. 



ANECDOTES OFJWAR DAYS 

After the evacuation of Little Rock, Arkan- 
sas, the 10th of September, 1863, and the Mis- 
souri command had gone into camp on the 
Little Missouri river, the retreat from Little 
Rock was being discussed among the men in 
Company K of the 16th Regiment. A dispute 
arose as to who covered the retreat. Some 
said one and some said another; some said 
Marmaduke covered it, when P. A. Allison 
spoke up and said : '*It was not true, for Mar- 
maduke recovered it." Allison never heard 
the last of this. 



When General Parson's brigade was one day 
out on an inspection drill by regiments, it was 
hoped every field and line officer and soldier 
would do his whole duty and not make a mis- 
take. The adjutant of the 16th regiment had 
taken great interest in drilling the regiment for 
this occasion. He was a foreigner and spoke 
English brokenly. The 16th was making its 
last move in line of battle and up to that mo- 
ment had made no mistake, but when the reg- 

[361] 



[362] 
Anecdotes of War Days. 

iment was on double-quick time Adjutant 
Warberg gave the command : 

"Co. K, pass the defile by right oblique." The 
Captain repeated the command, but in this in- 
stance said ''left oblique" which threw every- 
thing out of order. Warberg was very much 
hurt over the Captain's blunder and hallowed 
at the top of his voice : 

"Captain Bronaugh ! Captain Bronaugh ! 
you vSpoil the whole line — why did you not 
right oblique as command was given." 



[363] 
Anecdotes of War Days. 



MRS. GEN. RAINES AND THE 
SOLDIER. 

In the fall of 1861, on General Price's retreat 
south, after the battle of Lexington, one of 
General Stein's soldiers called at a house near 
the little town of Sarcoxie. He reined his horse 
in front of the house and called the lady out 
and wanted to know if she would sell him a 
dozen chickens, the back yard being full of the 
feathered tribe. The lady did not want to sell. 
He kept insisting that she sell him one any 
way, but she refused. The soldier, seeing it 
was useless to argue further, remarked on leav- 
ing: "You had better sell me all those chick- 
ens." She wanted to know why. He said: 
"Because Raines' division will be along direct- 
ly and they will steal everything you have." 
He was not aware that he had been talking to 
Mrs. Raines, wife of the General. This little 
incident was so amusing that the good lady 
had to relate it. 



[364] 
Anecdotes of War Days. 

MAJOR HERRELL AND F. C. TAYLOR. 

In 1863 a great revival of religion swept over 
our camp. One Major J. P. Herrell, of the 16th 
Missouri, made a profession of religion and was 
very zealous in the cause. One evening he 
was holding dress parade, in the absence of the 
colonels. He requested that every officer 
and soldier of the 16th regiment who was in 
favor of pulling down stealing, from either cit- 
izens or soldiers, to step two paces to the front. 
Before he had time to put the proposition fully, 
one F. C. Taylor, of Company K, stepped to 
the front and said: "Hold on a moment Ma- 
jor before you put the motion ; let us have a 
little proviso." "Well," says the gallant Ma- 
jor, "what is that proviso?" "I am in favor of 
your motion provided they will feed us. If 
they don't, I am going to have something to 
eat." The Major put his motion and it car- 
ried. On going back to Company quarters, 
Taylor made up a mess of six with himself and 
the "Taylor mess" always lived well. F. C. 
Taylor was a near relative of Col. Zachary 
Taylor and one of the best soldiers in our com- 
mand. He never missed a battle in which his 
regiment was engaged. He died a few years 
since at Windsor, Henry county, Missouri. 



[365] 
Anecdotes of War Days. 

LEWIS P. BEATIE AND THE FEDERAL 
SOLDIER. 

In 1864 Gen. Banks made his famous raid 
up Red river in Louisiana. The Confederate 
forces under Maj. Gen. Dick Taylor met him 
at Mansfield, Louisiana, defeating and routing 
him completely, capturing his entire wagon 
train and thousands of prisoners. Banks with 
the remnant of his shattered forces, retreated 
to Pleasant Hill, twenty miles down the river, 
where he was re-inforced by the 13th army 
corps, commanded by Gen. A. J. Smith. There 
Gen. Banks made another stand on the 9th of 
April, but again was badly defeated and rout- 
ed, the confederates capturing in the last en- 
gagement 5,000 prisoners. 

In marching the prisoners through the 
woods by starlight, a Federal prisoner and a 
Confederate private fell into conversation. The 
Yankee told the Johnnie Reb. that he was 
"might-nigh starved," that he had not had a 
"sip of coffee for three days." To this the Reb. 
replied : "I have not had a sip in three years." 
Judge Lewis P. Beatie of Henry county was 
the Reb. referred to. He has been living in 
Henry county for a number of years and is a 
man much loved by his fellow-men. 



[366] 
Anecdotes of War Days. 



THE CHAPLAIN AND THE SOLDIER. 

At Jacksonport, Arkansas, in 1863i, Bob. 
Renick, a chaplain in Shelby's command, visit- 
ed one of his comrades, who was very ill in a 
hospital. Brother Renick was quite sympa- 
thetic and sat down by his friend's cot. He 
spoke gently to the veteran and advised him 
to pray unceasingly and to wrestle with God. 
The sick man reached out his bony and emaci- 
ated arms and said: "Rassle with God? Why 
he would flirt me into hell the first pass." 




BEN F. NELSON, 
The President of the Board of Managers of the State 
Prison of Minnesota, Member Second Kentucky 
Battalion, Gen. John H. Morgan's Cavalry, C. S. A. 



[369] 
Anecdotes of War Days, 



A YOUNG SOLDIER'S EXAMINATION. 

In General Parson's command there was a 
young* fellow who underwent an examination 
for the position of assistant surgeon of his reg- 
iment. When arraigned before the examining 
board which was presided over by an old gray- 
haired physician, he was put through a very 
severe course of medical tactics. In fact, the 
old doctor went at him in so many ways that 
he was badly befuddled and not a little anger- 
ed. Finally, as a practical illustration, the sev- 
ere old doctor, who was chairman of the Ex- 
amining Board, held his knee up and asked 
the young fellow what he would do for him if 
he were found shot through the knee on the 
battlefield. The young applicant who had been 
on the rack for hours was pretty hot by this 
tim\e and replied: 'T wouldn't do a d — mn 
thing for you." That ended the examination. 



24 



[370] 
dnecdotes of War Days. 



HTNDMAN AND THE SURGEON 

One day Gen. Thomas C. Hindman and a 
surgeon belonging to his staff, rode in rather 
pompous style down the line of a company of 
veterans,' drawn up for review. The surgeon 
had an animal that was inclined to be frisky 
and gay. This aroused the risibilities of a 
scarred battle-burnt veteran in the ranks, who 
yelled out; ''Say, Doc, can't you make that 
horse dance a little for a sick man?" It is un- 
necessary to say the horse was put through a 
quadrille to the tune of "Dixie." 

Poor General Hindman : A gallant soldier, 
he fought on many a field for the South, only 
to fall victim to a midnight assassin, at his 
home at Helena, Arkansas, after the noise of 
battle had died away. But it was "reconstruc- 
tion days." 



[371] 
Anecdotes of War Days. 

AFTER THE BATTLE OF HELENA. 

It was only a day or so after the disastrous 
battle of Helena, Arkansas, when General 
Holmes, in command of the department, ran 
across Captain Warner, of the 16th Missouri 
Infantry. The latter was lighting his pipe ; his 
head was downcast and he seemed much de- 
jected over the sad and bloody repulse the 
Confederates had sustained at Helena. Old 
General Holmes, who was a West Pointer, and 
who after having gained some prominence in 
the Seven Days' battles before Richmond in 
1862, had been transferred to this department, 
in answer to a compliment from Captain War- 
ner, who spoke of him gallantly leading his 
troops at Helena, and as acting very brave, re- 
plied : "No compliment, at all. Captain ; no 
compliment, sir ; a dog can act brave." 

General Holmes was a good, seasoned sol- 
dier. He had the confidence of Mr. Davis, 
President of the Confederacy, but had become 
far advanced in years and service, and was un- 
fortunate in being placed in a department 
where it required young blood and extraordin- 
ary activity. 

Captain Warner died some years ago. 



[372] 
Anecdotes of War Days, 



AT THE BATTLE OF CARTHAGE. 

In was July 5, 1861, at the then important 
battle of Carthage, Missouri, that General 
Claiborne F. Jackson, who was retreating south 
with the soldiers, saw the troops of General 
Franz Siegel approaching in the distance. The 
Governor turned to the famous and gallant 
Raines, who commanded a brigade, and appris- 
ed him of what he had seen. General Raines, 
who was a brave, but uncouth soldier, replied 
in his homely way : ''Don't be excited. Gov- 
ernor Jackson ; don't be excited, sir ; I'll dis- 
perse them in a few minutes." After that a 
severe engagement followed, in which Siegel 
was routed, but not before quite a number of 
brave men on both sides had "bit the dust." 
When the engagement was closed. Gen. 
Raines' boys went out into the neighboring 
fields and began gathering blackberries. 
Thenceforth Raines' command was known as 
"The Blackberry Cavalry." 



[373] 
Anecdotes of War Days, 

RAIKER AND THE OLD NEGRO 
PREACHER, DANCER AND CARD- 
PLAYER. 

When in camp at Monticello, Arkansas, in 
1864, there was an old negro man named Clay- 
borne. He would come into camp most every 
day, preach awhile, dance awhile and swear 
awhile. 

If you asked him if he knew a certain man, 
he would always answer in the affirmative. He 
seemed never to forget a name or face. 

One day when the boys were ten feet deep 
around Clayborne and having lots of fun at 
his expense, Captain D. M. Raiker, command- 
er of Company D, 16th regiment came up. 
Some one said, ''Clayborne, do you know Capt. 
Raiker?" "Capt. Raiker, I guess I does; he 
raked me out of $40 last night in a poker 
game." 

Captain Raiker is one of Johnson county's 
honored citizens. He and Captain F. P. Bron- 
augh of St. Louis are the only captains living 
of the 16th Missouri regiment, since the un- 
timely death of Captain Eph. Allison, last fall. 
Capt. Allison was an officer at the State Pris- 
on at Jefferson City, and was killed while try- 
ing to prevent the escape of several desperate 
convicts. 



[374] 
Anecdotes of War Days. 



J. E. FINKS AND THE HORSE HAIR. 

After the battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas, 
the Missouri command were ordered to Des 
Ark, Arkansas, on the White river. There the 
soldiers were all dismounted to take boats for 
Memphis, Tennessee. The boys disliked very 
much to give up their horses and take it 
afoot, but being good soldiers they obeyed, 
some willingly and some reluctantly. Some 
of them consoled themselves one way and 
some another for their loss. J. E. Finks of 
Henry county, Missouri said, "Boys, there is 
one consolation to me." One of the boys want- 
ed to know what it was. He replied, "we 
won't have as much horse hair in the bread 
as usual." When making up the dough to 
bake, it took one man with his hat to fan away 
the horse'hair, as the entire atmosphere would 
be filled. 





•AV^^t'"U^^ ''■^"'fc''^'"^ 




[377] 
Anecdotes of War Days. 

PRIVATE BROOKS AND THE MOS- 
QUITOES. 

At Three Creeks, near Little Rock, Arkan- 
sas, General Price's coniimand camped for 
three or four months. While in this camp 
there was a great religious awakening among 
the soldiers under the preaching of Bishop 
Kavenaugh, Bishop Marvin and the editor of 
the Little Rock Advocate, Dr. Winfield. The 
entire cam'p was stirred under the preaching 
of these eloquent men. 

Among those who were seekers of religion 
and who was at the anxious seat day and night 
for ten days was one of the finest soldiers I 
ever knew, W. C. Brooks, Co. C, 16th regi- 
ment. 

He had been out all the forenoon in secret 
prayer. Like the bulk of Confederate soldiers 
he was barefooted. The mosquitoes were very 
plentiful where Brooks was kneeling and they 
would cover his bare feet. On his return to 
camp about noon, some of the boys met him 
and wanted to know if he had gained that 
peace of soul. "No," he said, "but I believe I 
could have gotten through all right this time 
if it hadn't been for those d— n mosquitoes." 

Brooks lived several years after the close of 
the war in Boone county and like most all the 
ex-Confederates made a good citizen. 



[378] 
Anecdotes of War Days. 



CAPTAIN GILLETTE AND LC. POUNCE. 

While in camp near Van Buren, Arkansas, 
after the battle of Prairie Grove, all compan- 
ies had to call the roll at reveille, which was 
before day, each company on its own parade 
grounds. 

Col. H. of the 16th Missouri regiment 

had commenced calling roll in advance of the 
other companies and when Captain Gillette 
was entering his company's parade ground 

Col. H. , was half way down the list of 

names. He called the name of "I. C. Pounce." 
''I. C. Pounce." "I. C. Pounce." Captain Gil- 
lette remarked, "Who in the h — 11 cares if you 
do see him." 

This raised a great laughter among the boys. 



[379] 
Anecdotes of War Days, 

HE HAD FITS. 

Ephraim Goff and Albert Dunning, who are 
to-day among the most prominent and pros- 
perous farmers in Henry county, Missouri, 
and who reside near Clinton, were members 
of Company K, 16th Missouri infantry, and no 
more gallant soldiers than they ever wore the 
grand old gray uniform. 

While camped at and around Little Rock, 
Arkansas, in 1863, these two men were detail- 
ed for camp guard dut}^ After guard mount 
at brigade headquarters, the guard numbering 
about one hundred men were being marched 
to the guard-house some half mile away. A 
captain and lieutenant were in command of 
this guard. This particular phase of army life 
was not at all pleasant, and particularly so in 
this case to Goff and Dunning, who fixed up 
a little scheme to fall behind the other boys 
and get back to their quarters some half mile 
away. 

A soldier seeing them starting back reported 
them to the lieutenant of the guard. The lieu- 
tenant drew his saber and started after the 
two men, yelling to them to halt. Goflf was 



[380] 
Anecdotes of War Days. 

greatly excited for he knew it meant a week in 
the g-uard-house, and asked Dunning what they 
should do. Dunning replied: "Wait until he 
gets a little nearer and I will have a regular 
fit, then you can play your part and we will be 
excused from guard duty and will not be put 
in the guard house." 

Suddenly Dunning tumbled over, grasped 
at the grass, rolled up his eyes and to all ap- 
pearances was in the terrible throes of a 
spasm. About that time the lieutenant of the 
guard came up and saw Dunning. He asked 
GofT "what was the matter with that fellow." 
Goff replied, "he has a fit; he is subject to 
them." The lieutenant did not detect the trick 
and with a good deal of sternness, mixed with 
ill-concealed amusement, he turned to Gofif 
and said: "Take this man to his quarters and 
take care of him ; he is in a bad fix." That 
settled the little joke. 



[3811 
Ajiecdotes of War Days, 



RESULT OF A SOLDIER'S SALUTE. 

In January, 1863, the Missouri Infantry w'as 
encamped around Little Rock, Arkansas, under 
the command of Gen. Parsons. 

Gen. Parsons' adjutant general, the gallant 
and lamented Col. Austin M. Standish, always 
kept tAvo or three fine saddle horses. On one 
occasion he loaned his horses to some friends 
to ride into the country, charging them to be 
back by a certain hour. The friends failed to 
return at the appointed time and Col. Standish 
was compelled to borrow a mule to ride in 
making his tour around the different divisions. 
All sentinels had to salute him by bringing 
his gun to a present arms. The first guard he 
passed, presented arms and saluted. The rat- 
tle and noise of the soldier's old musket fright- 
ened the mule, and after depositing his rider 
in the mud, galloped off to its quarters. The 
soldier was much frightened for fear of being 
punished, but greatly to his surprise Col. Stan- 
dish got up, brushed the mud from his clothes 
and said : "Plaven't you no better sense than 
to salute a man on a mule? Don't you know 



[382] 
Anecdotes of War Days. 

a man who will ride a mule is not worthy of 
a salute." 

This brave and true officer, together with 
General Parsons, was murdered by the Mexi- 
cans after the Civil War. 




THE GRIP, 
In Which All Documents Were Carried to Minnesota. 



[385] 
Anecdotes of War Days, 

HINDMAN AND BOOTEN. 

On the march from Van Buren to Little 
Rock, after the battle of Prairie Grove, in Jan- 
uary, 1863, General Hindman and staff were 
riding towards the rear, when an amusing in- 
cident occurred. 

When General Hindman was about oppos- 
ite Company C, 16th Missouri Infantry, a sol- 
dier from the company by the name of Booten, 
stepped out in front of the General, who had 
checked his horse, saluted and said : "Mister, 
would you give a soldier a chaw of tobacco?" 
Hindman took a plug of tobacco and handed it 
to Booten. Booten looked up and said : "Mis- 
ter, have you got a knife?" Hindman said: 
"You can have the whole plug." Then Booten 
exclaimed : "Mister, I am very much obliged 
to you indeed. Mister, where do you live?" 
Gen. Hindman replied : "Down the country 
below here." "Well Mister," said Booten, 
"tell your folks I am coming to your house next 
Sunday and stay all day with them." 

This seemed to amuse Gen. Hindman, so he 
took Booten's name and company and sent 
him a pair of shoes that evening. 
25 



[386] 
Anecdotes of War Days. 

JOHN S. KELLEY AND COL. BRISCOE. 

In Col. Woods' reg'iment there were some of 
the best fighters of the war. Among them were 
Capt. John S. Kelley, and Major Briscoe. They 
were fast friends and great ladies' men. When 
they went to a new camp they always managed 
to form the acquaintance of all the nice ladies 
in the neighborhood. 

On one occasion, near Monticello, Arkansas, 
Capt. Kelley formed the acquaintance of three 
young ladies by the name of Robinson. So he 
invited Major Briscoe to go out with him and 
call on the three graces. Briscoe gladly ac- 
cepted the invitation and they were not long 
in arriving at the Robinson mansion. Col. Rob- 
inson, the father of the young ladies, met the 
gentlemen, invited them in and said the ladies 
would be in presently. In a few moments the 
three Miss Robinsons entered their elegant 
parlor, the elder sister in advance. Capt. Kel- 
ley, with as much grace as he could command 
arose and said : "Major Briscoe, let me present 
you to Miss Robinson." Major Briscoe bow- 
ed gallantly to "Miss Robinson." Kelley then 
turned to the other sister and said : "Miss Lucy 
Likewise, A'fajor Briscoe." Major Briscoe 



[3S7] 
Anecdotes of War Days, 

bowed and said, "Miss Likewise." The gal- 
lant Captain Kelley turning- to the younger 
sister said : "Miss Jennie Also, Major Briscoe." 
Major Briscoe bowed and said: "Delighted to 
meet you Miss Jennie Also." 

To say Kelley was furious does not express 
it and Briscoe received a going over when they 
got back to camp. 



[388] 
Anecdotes of War Days. 



HE SURROUNDED HIM. 

Among the multitude of tragedies and amus- 
ing incidents that took place during the Civil 
War was that of an Irishman, who belonged 
to our regiment. Pat had been sent out on a 
little scouting duty, and returned to camp. He 
had in charge a big brave-looking Yankee, 
fresh from Massachusetts. 

"Where did you get that fellow?" asked 
General Price. 

"Where did I get him?" said the Irishman; 
"I just surrounded him and captured him, 
your honor." 

What has become of the captor and the 
"prisoner" is unknown. 

General Sterling Price, a veteran of the 
Mexican war, a governor of Missouri, and Ma- 
jor General in the Confederate army, died, full 
of honors and glory, in St. Louis, in 1867. 



[389] 
Anecdotes of War Days, 



COL. S. P. BURNES AND THE WORLD. 

On one occasion, when General M. M. Par- 
sons was absent, Col. S. P. Burnes, of the 11th 
regiment was put in command of the brigade. 
On return to camp, after battalion drill. Col. 
Burnes was passing through a strip of timber. 
Some of the boys were straying through this 
woodland and when they saw Col. Burnes ap- 
proaching they hid behind a cluster of bushes. 
When the Colonel reached the open space in 
the woods he reined in his horse, faced the 
open space, straightened himself in the saddle, 
drew his saber, thinking he was all by him- 
self, and gave the command : 

"Attention World;" "By Nation, right half 
wheel; Change front to rear on Arkansas." 
"Double Quick;" "March." 

Col. Burnes was one of the best officers and 
soldiers Missouri sent to the war. He has 
lived in Texas for many years and is as good 
a citizen as he was a soldier. 



[390] 
Anecdotes of War Days. 

WHY? 

(From the Sunday St. Louis Republic) 

''Time makes all things even. Captain Wall 
C. Bronaugh of Clinton, Missouri, for a quar- 
ter of a century has spent time and money in 
a persistent effort to secure the liberty of Cole 
and Jim Younger, who have been confined in 
the Stillwater Penitentiary for the Northfield 
bank robbery, and at last he has succeeded. 

''Throughout Missouri the question has been 
asked, 'Why does Bronaugh take such interest 
in securing the freedom of the Youngers? Is 
he a relative?' 'No.' 'Is he a paid attorney?' 
'No.' The answer ma}^ be found in Joaquin 
Miller's lines : 

" 'The standing side by side till death. 
The dying for some wounded friend. 
The faith that failed not till the end. 
The strong endurance till the breath 
And body take their Avays apart. 
I only know, 

Their faults — men have them by heart ; 
Their virtues — they are with their dust.' 

"Actuated by friendship born of the Civil 
War, Captain Bronaugh has sacrificed not only 



[391] 
Anecdotes of War Days. 

his time but a great deal of his own private 
fortune in the effort in behalf of the Youngers 
which has just culminated in success. 

''He was the first man to grasp the hand of 
two of Quantrell's most daring men after the 
Minnesota Pardon Board had granted them 
parole. It was befitting that their lifelong 
friend should have first broken the glad tidings 
to the hungered men, who had not tasted the 
sweets of libert}^ in twenty-five years. 

''Undaunted by repeated failure, BronauHi 
persistently brought petitions from three Mis- 
souri Legislatures in behalf of the Youngers, 
swelled the volume of appeal for mercy by ob- 
taining letters from prominent men in Mis- 
souri politics, in business, in law, from all re- 
ligious beliefs and all political creeds, from 
men wdio had worn the gray and fought side 
by side with the prisoners, and from men who 
wore the blue and had fought against them. 

"It took a quarter of a century for time to 
heal the wound that had incensed the State 
of Minnesota, but constant dropping will wear 
away the stone, and so, little by little, hatred 
softened to pity, and pity melted into compas- 
sion, and the most bitter enemies of the 
Youngers in Minnesota came to be their most 



[392] 
Anecdotes of War Days, 

ardent friends and signed the petition for their 
parole. 

"In Missouri, in Texas, in Arkansas, in the 
South, men who had fought under the stars 
and bars held a warm place in their hearts for 
the Youngers, because they knew something 
of the fierce conditions of the border warfare 
in Missouri, which inflamed the passions of 
men and made demons and criminals of some 
who otherwise would have become good citi- 
zens. 

"No one realizes the deeds of lawlessness 
which drove men to desperation in the days of 
the Kansas Jawhawker raids save those who 
were embittered by the flames of their burning 
homes, their live stock driven away and stolen, 
their relatives ruthlessly murdered. 

"So kind have the prison officials been to 
the Younger brothers that they might have ap- 
propriately repeated from Lord Byron's 'Pris- 
oner's of Chillon,' on the occasion of their re- 
lease : 

" 'And when men came to set me free, 
I recked not when. I cared not where — 
Alas, it was the same to me. 
Fettered or fetterless to be : 



[393] 
Anecdotes of War Days, 

I learned to love despair. 

With spiders I had friendship made, 

Had watched them in their sullen trade; 

Had seen the mice by moonlight play, 

And why should I feel less than they? 

And I the monarch of each race had power to 

kill. 
Yet strange to tell in quiet we had learned to 

dwell ; 
So much alone communion tends to make us 

what we are. 
That my very chains and I grew friends. 
And I, even I, regain my freedom with a 

sigh.' " 



THE BRONAUGH FAMILY. 

Among the members of the noblesse of 
Annis, France, that remained faithful to the 
Huguenot cause, in days of persecution, and 
who afterwards formed part of the emigration 
to South Carolina, was Paul Bruneau, sieur de 
la Chabossiere. He was born in La Rochelle 
and was a grandson of Jean Bruneau, counse- 
lor, an eminent citizen whose family obtained 
patents of nobility in the middle of the 17th 
century. 

Paul Bruneau was accompanied in his flight 
to America by his nephew, Henri Bruneau. 
While in England they obtained letters of nat- 
uralization, March 20, 1636. They also chang- 
ed the spelling of the name Bruneau to Bro- 
naugh. 

Paul and Henri Bronaugh were instrumen- 
tal in building. the first Presbyterian church in 
South Carolina. 

From Paul Bronaugh descended Capt. Jere- 
miah Bronaugh, my ancestor. Capt. Bronaugh 
was born in 1703 and died in 1748. He mar- 
ried Sympha Rosa Enfield (Mason) Dinwid- 
die, widow of John Dinwiddie, a brother of 
[394] 



o 




[397] 
The Bronaugh Family, 

Gov. Dinwiddie of Virginia, and a daughter of 
Col. George Mason and Mary Fowke of Gus- 
ton Hall, Virginia. 

Capt. Jeremiah Bronaugh and his son, Capt. 
William Bronaugh, were in the French and 
Indian wars, and the son was with General 
Washington at Braddock's defeat. He served 
through the Revolutionary War and received 
several thousand acres of land on the Ohio 
river for his services. He married into the 
Carter family of Virginia and was my direct 
paternal ancestor and from the well-known 
Carter family of Virginia I obtain my name. 

In every war the United States has been en- 
gaged in you will find the name Bronaugh 
in its military annals. 

My mother was of the Peyton family of 
England and Virginia. She was a grand- 
daughter of Col. Samuel Height Peyton of 
Stafford county, Virginia. She was born in 
Warrenton, Virginia, and was a classmate of 
the first victim of the Civil War, Captain John 
Quincy Marr. The Peyton family is a very 
old one in England, tracing their ancestry or 
origin to the 11th century. In this honorable 
family I may mention my immediate relatives, 
namely: Sir Robert Peyton of Gloucester 



[398] 
The Bronaugh Family, 

county, Virginia ; Hon. John Howe Peyton 
and John Lewis Peyton of Staunton, Virginia; 
Col. Green and Bernard Peyton of Richmond, 
Virginia; Col. Jessie E. Peyton, of Haddon- 
field, New Jersey ; Balie Peyton, member of 
Congress from Tennessee ; Col. Henry E. Pey- 
ton of Stonewall Jackson's staff, and R. L. 
Y. Peyton of Cass county, Missouri, who 
served with Senator Vest in the Confederate 
Congress. 



OCT 20 I90S 



imf^ 



i',^?.:r°^^o^3 




016 092 869 



5-^ 







Sffi^«? 




x^ 










v-.> 






i^^.i>!>l' 






